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Nothing Is, and Everything Is Becoming

After having questioned the ultimate building blocks of the universe, particle physicists examined the infinitesimally small, and came to the conclusion that the ultimate “stuff” of the universe is not subatomic particles but pure energy.

Fundamentally, the world is dancing energy that is everywhere, incessantly assuming one form and another. What we have been calling “matter” (particles), is being created constantly, annihilated and created again; and this happens literally out of nowhere - where there was nothing, there is suddenly something.

Mystics from both the East and West who claim to have beheld the face of God speak in terms so similar to this that they cannot be ignored.Through enlightenment one can experience an all-pervading unity: "This” and “That” no longer are separate entities. Everything is a manifestation of the same thing; this energy which is constantly in flux is constantly becoming.

What I am trying to convey through my work is the understanding that we are all part of a universal whole. The stuff that rocks and trees are made of is the same as what makes you and me. We are not a formed complete entity, but a constantly evolving mass of energy continually in flux, continually becoming. I have tried to convey this sense through use of thick organic-like paint suggesting natural phenomena akin to nature.

From this format humankind must be sensed, and is always present, although often in a fractured disembodied way. The human biological form must convey a flavor, or poetry; if too evident, however, the spell is broken. I have found the complete elimination of the human form to be almost impossible, since the deep primeval motivation of the viewer is necessarily self-identification.

The solution to the problems posed in art does not lie outside in the realms of technique and intellectual formulations, but in the realms of fresh thinking about perennial issues, in honest feelings and awakened spirit. When practiced in this spirit, art transcends the decorative function, returning to its ancient and sacred role of affirming the covenant between humankind and nature; art becomes a powerful vehicle of personal and collective transportation.

I strive for the primordial state in which nothing definitive is thought, planned, striven for, desired, or expected, which aims in no particular direction and yet knows itself capable of straddling the line between the possible and the impossible. This state which is, at bottom, purposeless and egoless, is truly spiritual.

—Steve Carpenter.