Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Flashback Dialogues: De-Evolution, @1992
Sorry about this one… no humor to be had here.
Living in Flagstaff Arizona I used to always hit the local coffee houses for a cup of java and to people watch. Heck, I still do - the people watching. As I was doing this, I was noticing a change in society - maybe for the worst. Maybe I was just too naïve to just pick up on it at the time and it always was there, but I finally noticed. Due to my post-teenage angst, I really started to hate people. Maybe it was that what I saw was a primitive set back. I would see couples walking by, and whenever another male would leer at the taken female, the coupled male would beat his chest like a crazy ape protecting his territory. Animalistic needs taking over the so called 'civility of humans' through primal emotions.
Watching all this, I thought to myself, "My god, I used to hear stories about a generation that had tact and pleasantries. A society built on the foundation of good will towards men and women, where honesty and kindliness ruled the land." I saw none of this. I saw jealous rage, greed mongers and outright zealots nay saying and pointing fingers. As if I saw the degradation of society turning backwards in time, starting with the Inquisition of free thinkers, and recessing into the Paleolithic period of Cro-Magnon man beating down others while protecting his property.
So with a knife and scratch board in hand, I started to scratch away and thus the piece 'De-Evolution' was created. It wasn't a man evolving, but the exact opposite - a man trying to struggle away from his ultimate fate, aiming for the Sun for his freedom, while being chomped down from the evolutionary chain, where his ultimate demise is to eventually be swallowed by the primordial ooze that once started life.
After completing this work, it was submitted into a judged art show where I eventually had my own solo gallery opening among other pieces of mine, and it was then published in a literary magazine, Epiphany, that was distributed all throughout Oregon. It was my first published piece of work.
