This is one of my few almost
totally abstract paintings. There are figures here that
are reminiscent of the Hebrew letter Shin which stands
for fire in Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation).
The energetic feeling that I wanted for this image called
for Shins and a hint of flames. But basically it's just
a design. My main intention here was to show the dynamic
tension and symmetry. The tension achieved here is through
putting the primary colors next to their complements
(opposite colors).
In the very center there are six lines, which point
in six directions.
The two vertical lines are yellow and its complement,
purple - which then spread to the top and bottom of
the entire image with an interplay between yellow and
purple.
The two lines which run from the upper right to the
lower left is red and its complement, green - begin
the interplay between these two colors.
The final two lines in the center are blue and its complement,
orange - which run from the upper left to the lower
right.
In this image I attempt to depict the birth of visible
light - an energetic burst of all the colors of the
spectrum that emerge from the contraction (refraction)
of invisible white light. My inspiration for creating
this image was contemplating the first moment of creation.
In Kabbalistic numerology, the number seven represents
the natural cycle of the world.
That is a topic of interest to students of the Kabbalah
as well as to physicists and cosmologists.
In fact there are many similarities between the worldview
of the Kabbalah and modern science. One similarity is
the prominence of symmetry in both worldviews; another
concerns the beginning of the universe.
In Kabbalah, the creation of the universe is spoken
of as tzimtzum, which means 'contraction'.
Before this, there was only the Infinite Light which
is totally incomprehensible and of which we can say
nothing.
We can only speak about what happens from the moment
the Infinite Light is 'contracted' and diminished to
something that we can grasp, something that is on our
level.
So in Kabbalah, creation is seen not as adding things
to an empty void, but subtracting from the total perfection
of the Infinite Light. Carving out a place that finite
existence can inhabit inside the Infinite. The Midrash
therefore says, "G-d is the place of the universe.
The universe is not the place of G-d."
According to modern science, there is also a moment
of creation. This is called 'the Big Bang'- the beginning
of time and space.
Physicists can describe the nature of the physical universe
from a fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
The moment of the Big Bang itself is spoken of as a
'Singularity' - where no laws of physics apply. It is
beyond time and space, and contains all the matter and
energy of the entire universe in one unimaginably energetic
'Singularity'.
Scientists can't say anything about what was 'before'
the moment of the Big Bang. Since it was before the
creation of time the word 'before' is meaningless. Nevertheless,
according to modern science, the universe didn't emerge
from an empty void but rather from a 'Singularity' that
contained everything in one perfectly symmetrical unity.
