Saturday 29 November 2008

Haldane's Precambrian Puzzle

"...Evolution makes the strong prediction that if a single fossil turned up in the wrong geological stratum, the theory would be blown out of the water.
"When challenged by a zealous Popperian to say how evolution could ever be falsified, J.B.S. Haldane famously growled: 'Fossil rabbits in the Precambrian.'
"No such anachronistic fossils have ever been authentically found..." -Richard Dawkins

-p127-128, Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006.
Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN-13: 978-0-618-68000-9.

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Finally dry, a new scan of my Haldane's Precambrian Puzzle. Oil paint on 9 pieces of shale, 2008. Prints now available.


Haldane's Precambrian Puzzle (configuration A): False Rabbit
available as greeting cards, mounted print, matted print and canvas print. Click here.

Haldane's Precambrian Puzzle (configuration B): True Trilobites
available as greeting cards, mounted print, matted print and canvas print. Click here.
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All original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow. The contents of this blog are under a Creative Commons Licence. See sidebar for details.
Please visit my blog, gallery and reproduction store.

8 comments:

Karen James said...

Glendon, I think this might just be your best yet! I'm absolutely smitten with it.

Glendon Mellow said...

Thank you Karen!

It was one of those ideas that sat in my sketchbook for a long time, with the shale coated in primer, ready to go.

The problem is having too many ideas, and not enough time.

Sean Craven said...

I really dig the multiple layers of thought you put into this -- it's not just a painting. The use of the two configurations is really cool. Did you have to get the shale trimmed to shape or does it come in squares?

Glendon Mellow said...

Thanks Sean.

They're actually drink coasters my wife and I used for a number of years. Then I had this idea.

Emile said...

The use of shale here is ingenious, as are the 2 configurations. Absolutely brilliant.

Glendon Mellow said...

Many thank Emile!

It means a lot to me when the intended audience 'gets' it.

(And I suppose the intended audience is anyone who does indeed get it.)

I've posted it here and in my DeviantArt gallery before, but I felt it was important to put up this much clearer scan.

Anonymous said...

As an irregular visitor to your blog, I thank you for posting this beautiful scan. I like most of your work, but this one is just so smart and clever and relevant. It's a beautiful little reminder of one of the key features of successful science. I find myself gazing into the empty eyesocket of the false rabbit and wishing that Haldane could have seen it himself.

Glendon Mellow said...

Many thanks Brian! Your kind words mean so much to me.

(I hope I'm not being too forward in saying prints of the image are available in my online reproduction shop.)

Haldane was so quotable, I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.

It is scientific thought and wit like his that deserve more attention.

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Posts over 14 days old have their comments held in moderation - I've been getting an unusual amount of spam for a guy who paints trilobites. I'll release it lickety-split though.

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