Transition

This artwork is the final submission from the artist Paula artplace for the 'Humanity' event by the Faerian gallery. The artist created this piece in 3 days, inspired by a prompt that was submitted by the public. In a unique twist, instead of being interpreted by an AI, this time the prompt was brought to life by a human artist. The entire creative process was livestreamed online and at the NFC Lisboa event.

Original prompt text: -- 'What does the transitioning experience of dying look or feel like'

Art Medium: -- Acrylic on canvas, heavy acrylic paste

Was AI used? -- no

How is your final artwork related to the prompt? -- I incorporated certain philosophical beliefs about the afterlife and the very moment when life comes to an end, along with known motifs such as the circle of life or the tree of life. The main space of the canvas in which the painting takes place is the circle (of life) and inside we see the division of the canvas into two parts; the lower space represents leaving the physical form of life, and the upper part is transformation. The belief says that death is not the end of everything, nor is it something as bad as we all fear, but only a transition to a new form of our existence. We move on. We have learned our lessons by walking this planet with our body, but then there is a period when we continue to learn to live only with the spirit or turn into the particles from which the universe itself was created. Thus, let's change the form of existence and merge with nature, whether we are talking about plants or animals. I wanted to show this gloomy subject in a positive way, so I covered up two motifs at the bottom of the picture; it is important for the story that they are present, but I didn't want them to be seen immediately at first glance. That is, we can see two figures wrapped in hoods; on the right is life and on the left is the afterlife. At the place in the middle where they touch, the transformation moves; the life force passes through the wave. In the painting, the wave symbolizes the passage to the next destination, and it is also tilted slightly to the right as a dynamic indication that something is moving on instead of standing still. When the new life form passes through the symbolic water we see the blue and purple colors within the portrait; it's still us in all our beautiful form, only it's not a physical state. We pass between two trees; the door that leads us further; we merge with nature (it is showing in the way that hair merges with the branches of a trees) and we turn into dust and continue to explore the universe (maybe we end up in another galaxy). When we accept that the end of everything is actually a natural process, we must remember that in nature everything has its own course of events; something must end in order for something new to arise. Because of this, there are flowers around the entire circle as a symbol of the beautiful that blooms every year after gloomy weather.

Why did you choose this prompt? -- I liked the possibility of a theme that could be represented in symbolic ways. The text is very short and specific, but at the same time it can be presented in many ways. It provides one additional freedom; it was not a default 'paint this and that', but I saw it as an opportunity to tell a story in a visual way. I also liked the magnitude of the challenge

Explain more your creative process: -- In my recent personal work I explored similar subjects but I didn't think about this specific one; but when I read the prompt the vision instantly popped in my mind. I only made a few sketches and I decided that I would give everything from myself; I thought that the theme could be very personal and it should stay like that, so I didn't use any reference photos, I wanted to show the painting exactly how my mind showed it to me when I first read the prompt.

A last comment? -- This event was magical! Everything was great, and I would like to participate again!