Big Bang, Take One, by Aspen Moon, November 2011. Acrylic on Canvas, 12″ x 36″. (Private Collection)

Big Bang, Take One was inspired by a vivid dream.  In the dream, I was floating in a void, waiting, and somehow knowing something big was about to happen.  All of a sudden, I realized I was there.  At/In the beginning.  At that very moment I was thrust outward by the force of a violent and blindingly bright explosion.  I found myself swimming and flailing in a swirling, spiraling sea of matter and motion and colorful energy. 

As the scene progressed, I began to see the matter spin on itself, coalescing into simple geometric shapes, then atoms, then molecules, becoming more complex with each moment as smaller forms evolved into larger forms. Eventually organic molecules, DNA, and life itself was forming all around me.

At the center of the universal happening are the various Platonic solids represented in a concentric expansion of ever-increasing complexity.  Complexity (i.e. novelty) increases outward, first with geometry, then atomic arrangements culminating in the molecule considered by many to be the bridge between the body and consciousness, Dimethyltryptamine (DMT).  From there, atoms link into DNA strands, which eventually form into an egg at the moment of conception (fertilization), and culminating into the form of a human embryo.  The very outer parts show well-known star constellations as seen from Earth, marking the current moment in space time.  

It was a profound dream that I’ll never forget–both visually as well as energetically.  Most importantly, it tied my consciousness to that way, way back moment in time and space, as if I was there to watch and wait until eventually I precipitated (some 14 billion years later) out of the cosmic morass.  It also caused me to realized that time likely existed before the Big Bang. In other words, the/a Universe somehow existed before that formative event.

This modest little painting of space clouds, swirling energy, and bright stars represents the entire history since the beginning of the Universe (so far), and also insulates that “stuff” was happening and being even before that.  What came before the Big Bang?  Everything, I suppose. Will there be another Big Bang?  Maybe.  And if so, I’ll paint Big Bang, Take Two.

-Oct 2021
Buhl, Idaho