Kara Joslyn
Planet Earth is blue, and there’s nothing I can do (Goodnight, Moon), 2020
acrylic and polymer automotive paint on canvas
18 x 18 inches (45.7 x 45.7 cm)
Copyright The Artist
Bowie’s 'Space Oddity' is forever ingrained in my memory. The silence....rolling tap of the snare.... “....Ground control to Major Tom... (10, 9, 8, 7.....).....” the story of Major Tom’s ascent...
Bowie’s "Space Oddity" is forever ingrained in my memory.
The silence....rolling tap of the snare.... “....Ground control to Major Tom... (10, 9, 8, 7.....).....” the story of Major Tom’s ascent into space....
I’m sure you’ve noticed that recently earthlings are all about going to Space again—certain billionaires are focused on traveling to Mars and there’s reinvigorated competition between countries/billionaires to get into space. I noticed space race fever is high like when Bowie wrote this song in 1969.
The day I started this painting, the news was on about SpaceX traveling to the moon, once again, but this time the expressed intention wasn’t to explore, or to take giant leaps for mankind. It was to see if we could “mine the moon for resources.” ....maybe it’s me having a good postcolonial education, or my familiarity with sci fi novels (ahem dystopias), but I find billionaires with plans for off-planet colonization and resource exploitation to be..........like James Bond villain level suspicious.
But regarding the moon, I happen to have a personal relationship with the moon. No one owns the moon. She’s her own reflecting rock. The moon is like a painting in that way— She reflects light and dazzles. She engages in magnetic shadow play and ocean waves. Every earthling throughout time knows her. She’s the OG muse.
I grew up a 100% beach goth in San Diego constantly working on my moon-tan. I still hang with the moon pretty much every night. I’m a night painter, I enjoy the quiet when no one Is awake, and it’s just me and the moon and the paintings. I want to write odes to her — always. But this time, I wanted to acknowledge that despite being so far away, she‘s not safe from these misguided earthlings looking to exploit her for resources, (while ironically using so many of earth’s resources just to reach her...?).
The moon has spent Geological Aeons of Time (incomprehensible to the human mind) generously giving profound beauty — Since the beginning of time as we know it — is that not enough for these Misguided Agents of human hubris ?! ???????? If we treat the moon this way, I just think wow, This must be a VERY blue planet.
...Back to 1969— right before Bowie’s voice hauntingly echoes “your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong! ...can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? ...” as The Space Oddity Track fades out with Major Tom being lost in space forever, Bowie sings “planet earth is blue, and there’s nothing I can do,” ——
With that line, he writes from the POV of someone in space, in blackness, looking down at earth, and feeling so small, so alone, and so helpless. Who’s POV is it? Bowie? Major Tom? Me? the moon herself?
If you dare to feel feelings at all, you definitely feel that way, sometimes.
I wanted the moon to know, She’s not alone.
The silence....rolling tap of the snare.... “....Ground control to Major Tom... (10, 9, 8, 7.....).....” the story of Major Tom’s ascent into space....
I’m sure you’ve noticed that recently earthlings are all about going to Space again—certain billionaires are focused on traveling to Mars and there’s reinvigorated competition between countries/billionaires to get into space. I noticed space race fever is high like when Bowie wrote this song in 1969.
The day I started this painting, the news was on about SpaceX traveling to the moon, once again, but this time the expressed intention wasn’t to explore, or to take giant leaps for mankind. It was to see if we could “mine the moon for resources.” ....maybe it’s me having a good postcolonial education, or my familiarity with sci fi novels (ahem dystopias), but I find billionaires with plans for off-planet colonization and resource exploitation to be..........like James Bond villain level suspicious.
But regarding the moon, I happen to have a personal relationship with the moon. No one owns the moon. She’s her own reflecting rock. The moon is like a painting in that way— She reflects light and dazzles. She engages in magnetic shadow play and ocean waves. Every earthling throughout time knows her. She’s the OG muse.
I grew up a 100% beach goth in San Diego constantly working on my moon-tan. I still hang with the moon pretty much every night. I’m a night painter, I enjoy the quiet when no one Is awake, and it’s just me and the moon and the paintings. I want to write odes to her — always. But this time, I wanted to acknowledge that despite being so far away, she‘s not safe from these misguided earthlings looking to exploit her for resources, (while ironically using so many of earth’s resources just to reach her...?).
The moon has spent Geological Aeons of Time (incomprehensible to the human mind) generously giving profound beauty — Since the beginning of time as we know it — is that not enough for these Misguided Agents of human hubris ?! ???????? If we treat the moon this way, I just think wow, This must be a VERY blue planet.
...Back to 1969— right before Bowie’s voice hauntingly echoes “your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong! ...can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? ...” as The Space Oddity Track fades out with Major Tom being lost in space forever, Bowie sings “planet earth is blue, and there’s nothing I can do,” ——
With that line, he writes from the POV of someone in space, in blackness, looking down at earth, and feeling so small, so alone, and so helpless. Who’s POV is it? Bowie? Major Tom? Me? the moon herself?
If you dare to feel feelings at all, you definitely feel that way, sometimes.
I wanted the moon to know, She’s not alone.