We Are Not Alone

Before Moonrise This Mountain Spoke… 2015

Before The Moonrise This Mountain Spoke, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Deep inside a Spirit sang, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

If mountains could only speak, think of what they have seen and heard. Think of where they have been and where they are going. The Ying and Yang of explosion and erosion. But the truth is mountains do have voices and they are always speaking.

Listening To Each Other’s Creation Stories… 2015

Listening To Each Other's Creation Stories, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Over and over they retold and retold, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

So many creation stories claim that the talker’s story is the center of the universe. Here it all began. Can every tribes’ sacred grounds be the center of creation? Or is the value of the story that it shares a beginning point for an understanding of who, what, where, why and how?

Who Will Eat The Last Wild Fish?… 2015

Who Will Eat The Last Wild Fish?, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

It was always obvious this day could come, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

One time when Anders was a young boy he went fishing off of Pt. Loma in San Diego harbor with his dad in their hand made skiff. His father, once a tuna boat and sportsfishing skipper, could not catch a fish while Anders reeled in mackerel after oily mackerel. Anders looked at his father and realized there could come a time when man had caught all the wild fish. Ah, a small boy’s imagination.

Food Chain Impositions… 2015

Food Chain Impositions, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Consequences will come from seeing the big picture, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

The food pyramid is a wonderful graphic, so solid with its wide base feeding other species until one reaches the top of the food chain, the human primate. As a child Anders thought the human primate was in a precarious position. There is never much room at the top.

No Room For Converts… 2015

No Room for Converts, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Long ago it was getting crowded, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

In Anders’ lifetime, mere decades, the human primate population has grown by a factor of 2.6x. It was crowded when he was born, and now? Fossil fuels, cheap accessible energy, became an enabler: from burning the dead came opportunity for the human primate population to mushroom. The question now is what is cheap and how many human primates are needed for the human primates to survive? And, is it possible the human primate could be buried under its own needs and some day become an energy source for future beings?

Inferred Relationships… 2015

Inferred Relationships, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Friends come and friends go, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics

And there they were, hiding and sharing when the moment seemed right. Where did one become another and what would be the succession parade ages from now? How close are we? How far apart are we? All of this under, and in, the thinnest of atmospheres. Some how this question seem to be moot points in the bigger picture which really isn’t that big.

Nether Space for Play Rights… 2015

Nether Space for Play Rights, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

We are all related to one another, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Together they consume resources and generate waste. All of them, from the strongest to the weakest, from the most complex to simplest, from the smartest to the least evolved consume resources and generate waste… no exceptions.

Protecting Possessions… 2015

Protecting Possessions, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Some say it is a lost cause, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Are we are what we possess or are our possessions what we are? Arrrgggh! Human primate pirates on the high seas raiding resources where they may be or transported. The human primate, the upper echelon of the upper primates, like all primates, can kill other primates. This is the primate nature. To the victor goes the spoils and ultimately the victor becomes the spoils. This is primate nature.

The Unforgiven Unite… 2015

The Unforgotten Unite, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonit

Circus comes and circus goes, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

How many of the flora and fauna abstract? Is this the age of fossil fuels, nuclear energy, transistors, communications, medicine, electricity or all of the above? What will the future think of human primates’ consumption of natural resources? Will the meek inherit the earth?
Does the earth care? Again with the abstraction.

Shunned? Got Onions? Make Onion Juice!… 2015

omlinson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/shunned-got-onions-make-onion-juice600.jpg" alt="Shunned?  Got Onions? Make Onion Juice? painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

There is always another side if not more, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite[

Human primates are nothing less than adaptable. But is there an edge too far or a push too hard? Is there a point of no return? More is more and less is less. More mores means more lesses and at what point does it equal zero? Math is math. Consequences breed consequences.

Who Is Listening to Whom?… 2015

Who is Listening to Whom?, painting by Anders Tomlinson, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

Look both ways before crossing a conversation, 24 x 24 inches, acrylics/masonite

What was there before our universe’s big bang? Was our big bang an event in another universe within another universe and on and on? Will our universe hold a big bang for another universe yet to be? Could big bangs, of all sizes, be occurring all the time? It could depend on where one is standing and to whom they are talking. And this brings us to the brain. Think about this like human primates are capable of thinking.

We Are Not Alone was an interesting series for Anders to paint. It engaged him throughout 2015, at every turn, and in the end these eleven paintings were completed.

©2016 Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.