Paul Laffoley Cambridge, MA, 1935-2015
Geochronmechane_ The Time Machine from the Earth, 1990
Serigraph in Acrylic, lettering, ink with corrections by the artist in colored pencil on acid-free rag
32 x 32 x 2 in.
81.4 x 81.4 cm
81.4 x 81.4 cm
No. 26 of an Edition of 75
$ 6,500.00
Subject_ The Third Design Phase of The Time Machine. Symbol Evocation_ The Chronon equals one billionth of the first instant of time at the birth of the physical universe. Besides...
Subject_ The Third Design Phase of The Time Machine.
Symbol Evocation_ The Chronon equals one billionth of the first instant of time at the birth of the physical universe. Besides containing all the quantitative aspects of time, that is, the measurement of duration, The Chronon also exhibits the qualitative aspects of time, such as the experience of duration [proto-consciousness], or the fundamental connection between time, fate and free will.
Comments_
It is now just five years before the centennial celebrations of the 1895 publication of the famous novel by H.G. Wells – The Time Machine. The subject matter of science fiction has long been recognized – I would venture a guess since the genre first attained popularity – as a fruitful source of ad hoc research and development by certain individuals like the Wright Brothers or Hugo Gernsback. It was not until the mid 1950’s [the period of the beginning of the maturity of our vision of technology – mechanical, electronic and psychological] that this recognition became widespread and socially obvious. This phenomenon has had such an impact on the writing of science fiction, that current science fiction seems little more that a slight spin on present conditions, and no longer the backbone of futurology. The concept of The Time Machine has remained, however, immune to such historical and technological acculturation – in short The Time Machine has been considered by its nature impossible and absurd.
Given the standard litany of paradoxes that are thrown at the concept of time travel which deal with a potential verses a deterministic vision of time, the concrete frame of reference provides a natural limit on all information exchange throughout the physical universe. Some frames of reference can be subsumes by others, such as all the earth-surface energy systems and their framed of referenced are responsive to the entire frame of reference of the Earth, but not to those beyond the Earth. The Earth in total reacts to larger frames of reference. Information that is precoged or retrocoged on the Earth cannot by my definitions appear deterministic beyond the limit of the Earth. Near the surface of the Earth where we live other framed of reference and their measurable limits come into play. If the concepts of space and time are relative as Einstein has postulated, so must be the concepts of the potential and the deterministic when used to apply to a physical context.
It is said that if the time machine really existed, we would already know of it. I say it has always been here, and we are beginning to become aware of it.
Symbol Evocation_ The Chronon equals one billionth of the first instant of time at the birth of the physical universe. Besides containing all the quantitative aspects of time, that is, the measurement of duration, The Chronon also exhibits the qualitative aspects of time, such as the experience of duration [proto-consciousness], or the fundamental connection between time, fate and free will.
Comments_
It is now just five years before the centennial celebrations of the 1895 publication of the famous novel by H.G. Wells – The Time Machine. The subject matter of science fiction has long been recognized – I would venture a guess since the genre first attained popularity – as a fruitful source of ad hoc research and development by certain individuals like the Wright Brothers or Hugo Gernsback. It was not until the mid 1950’s [the period of the beginning of the maturity of our vision of technology – mechanical, electronic and psychological] that this recognition became widespread and socially obvious. This phenomenon has had such an impact on the writing of science fiction, that current science fiction seems little more that a slight spin on present conditions, and no longer the backbone of futurology. The concept of The Time Machine has remained, however, immune to such historical and technological acculturation – in short The Time Machine has been considered by its nature impossible and absurd.
Given the standard litany of paradoxes that are thrown at the concept of time travel which deal with a potential verses a deterministic vision of time, the concrete frame of reference provides a natural limit on all information exchange throughout the physical universe. Some frames of reference can be subsumes by others, such as all the earth-surface energy systems and their framed of referenced are responsive to the entire frame of reference of the Earth, but not to those beyond the Earth. The Earth in total reacts to larger frames of reference. Information that is precoged or retrocoged on the Earth cannot by my definitions appear deterministic beyond the limit of the Earth. Near the surface of the Earth where we live other framed of reference and their measurable limits come into play. If the concepts of space and time are relative as Einstein has postulated, so must be the concepts of the potential and the deterministic when used to apply to a physical context.
It is said that if the time machine really existed, we would already know of it. I say it has always been here, and we are beginning to become aware of it.
Exhibitions
The Time Machine. Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska, 1997Paul Laffoley_ Building the Bauharoque. Kent Gallery, New York, 1998
Architectonic Thought Forms_ a Survey of the Art of Paul Laffoley. Austin Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, 1999. Curated By Elizabeth Ferrer.
Paul Laffoley_ The Tree of Sephiroth and Other Drawings. Kent Gallery, New York, 1999
The UFO Show. University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, 2000. Traveled to_ The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Gallery of Contemporary Art, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2000–01
Science and Science Fiction. Castle Art Gallery, College of New Rochelle, New York, 2001
Paul Laffoley_ Time Phase X. Kent Gallery, New York, 2005
We Make Versions. Westfälischer Kunstverein, Munster, 2011
Mondes inventés, mondes habités. Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, 2011
Paul Laffoley_ Secret Universe 2. Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, 2011. Curated by Claudia Dichter.
Adelaide International. Adelaide, Australia, 2014. Curated by Richard Grayson.
The Boston Visionary Cell. New York_ Kent Fine Art. 2013
The Force Structure of the Mystical Experience. New York_ Kent Fine Art. September 11 – November 7, 2015
Literature
Blinderman, Barry, Bill Conger, and Paul Laffoley. “Disco Volante.” In The UFO Show. Normal, Illinois_ University Galleries, Illinois State University, 2000, ill. p. 37 (color).Grayson, Richard. Worlds in Collision. Adelaide_ Samstag Museum of Art, 2013, ill. p.76 (color).
Kittelman, Udo, and Claudia Dichter, eds. Paul Laffoley_ Secret Universe 2. . Berlin_ Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Cologne_ Walter König, 2011, p. 45, ill. p. 113.
Laffoley, Paul. “Elements of the Time Machine_ Homage to H. G. Wells,” Journal of the United States Psychotronics Association No. 4 (Summer 1990)_ cover, p. 4, ill.
Laffoley, Paul, Jeanne Marie Wasilik, and James Mahoney. Architectonic Thought-Forms_ Gedankenexperiemente in Zombie Aesthetics, A Survey of the Visionary Art of Paul Laffoley Spanning Four Decades, 1967-1999, to the Brink of the Bauharoque. Austin, Texas_ Austin Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 76-77, ill. Plate 22 (color).
Laffoley, Paul. “The Phenomenology of Revelation.” Interview by Richard Metzger. In Disinformation_ The Interviews. New York_ The Disinformation Company Ltd., 2002, ill. p. 39.
Laffoley, Paul. Paul Laffoley_ Time Phase X. New York_ Kent Gallery, 2005, ill. p. 27 (color).
Ryan, J. F. “Atlantis is an Island_ The Visionary Art of Paul Laffoley.” Flatiron Millennium Issue vol. 5 / no. 4 (2000)_ 33-34, ill. (color).
Schroeder, Katja. We Make Versions. Exhibition Catalogue. Münster_ Westfälischer Kunstverein, 2011, ill. pp. 34–35 (color).
Walla, Douglas and Paul Laffoley. The Boston Visionary Cell. New York, Kent Fine Art 2013. Illus p 30
The Force Structure of the Mystical Experience. New York_ Kent Fine Art. September 11 – November 7, 2015