Before Picasso

 

These are my digital paintings inspired by the 30000 year old drawings at Chauvet, discovered only last century and now under wraps to maintain them.  Other paintings at Lascaux were disfigured by fungi once the caves were opened.

Noone can be sure about the  motivation behind the painter(s). We don”t know if they were capturing images of the animals they saw, or using them as representations of something important to their culture. They may have been honouring life force or strength, we just do not know.  What we can say is that they are remarkable examples of very early humans choosing to show parts of their experience, and this is interesting. We don’t get representations of humans, Although there are human parts shown, hands, genitals, but not people. Interesting. And no birds, no fishes, no trees, no clouds, no grass. Is there something ‘sacred’ in showing what could be described as ‘upper mammals’ – lions, bisons, rhinos. Worth consideration. These are amazing forerunners of how human beings turn towards the creation of art as expression. The top image is clearly a bison and the second image shows lions.. Remember how far back in time we are looking – 30000 years – we are still piecing together what humans were about at that time. these images could demonstrate a human impulse to create art as symbolic representations , or show a mind that was intent on creating  a record for future generations. Amazing , read all about it here http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/chauvet_cave_paintings.php

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