The Prize
During
the reception in March 12, we offered a little prize for our guests to win. It is
this 36x36 inches giclée on canvas, titled
"Beginning of Time." It is a digitally manipulated print of my virgin
piece—the
first oil painting I have ever done, without any training.
It was in July 30, 2003. Driven by long-suppressed desire to paint, I walked
into University Art on Hamilton in Palo Alto and carefully
asked the person who was in charge of the art supply department "May I ask
for some help? I want to do oil painting. But I don't have any previous
training—i.
e. I am as blank as the canvas in terms of knowledge about oil and any basics.
Would you mind to fill me in and help me pick up some materials?" I
learned later that this person's name is Doug who is also an artist. He has
been very helpful since. In that day, he told me to practice with some cheaper
materials (student level) first. However, I went back to the store early
morning the next day and bought everything I needed at professional grade,
including this 36x36 inches gallery-wrap blank canvas. I couldn't wait but
started the work at around 11am, and completed it at 10pm the same day.
I didn't have a clear image when I applied the first stroke on the canvas. All
I knew was this infinite universe that has all sorts of stories, and the most
fascinating one is the DNA life on Earth. Floating in the unknown (with 96%
dark matter and dark energy), the essence of life (the white core in the
painting) entails passion (the red stroke), wisdom (the orange stroke), and
vitality (the green stroke).
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| Beginning of Time, 2003, giclée on canvas, 36x36 inches |
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I called it “Open Universe.”
Yet, some friends see it differently. Some of them see it as the womb of the universe.
Some see it as the female reproductive organ. Some see it as a bird. And some see
it as "Beginning of Time." (What do you see before you read this
message?)
“Beginning
of Time” sounded the most appropriate. It is the "Beginning of Time" in the universe. It is the
"Beginning of Time" for all life. And it is the "Beginning"
of my humble journey in doing creative fine art.
After this first one, I have completed about 100 pieces in the past few
years.
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The prize winner is: Ms. Michelle Kim
We collected a total of 45 business cards and name
tags during our reception. Understand that many of you did not want to or
missed leaving your cards or name tags. Also please forgive us for not being
able to collect from everyone including people who came much earlier or much
later during the reception.
For a couple of reasons, we didn't get a chance to draw the winner in the
reception. In April 22 (Earth Day), we did it in front of four random witnesses
in the Physics and Astrophysics building where our reception was held. The
witnesses are: Dmitri Simanovski, Ilya Toytman, Jim Loudin and Chris Sramek.
Dmitri is a Senior Research Scientist. Ilya, Jim and Chris are Research
Assistants. They all work for Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory (HEPL). We
are grateful for their kind assistance to this drawing process.
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