This painting explores notions of identity in the technological future of now. The image of the legendary Greco-Egyptian sage, Hermes was first described in writing by the artist. This descriptor was based on his own read interpretations of Hermetic literature within the Nag Hamadi library. (A collection of apocryphal lost gospels which was found in Egypt in 1945.) The descriptor prose was then fed into AI image generation technology and returned back as a digital image. This image was then painted by the artist as a digital and alchemical experiment. The notion of as above so below, as within so without, is ascribed to the writings of Hermes Trismegistus. This metaphysical ontology is a world view which attests to the cosmos being holographically present within every small part of matter, and that the structure of reality itself is fractal, thus self-similarity spirals outwards and inwards in all directions. As an archetype, Hermes reminds us of the crucial interrelationships between all living conscious entities. As a messenger of the divine his symbolic image of self known wisdom and fraternity is fitting for this time of great change we are all living through.

51 cm by 41cm

2024, oil on linen.