Branch Theory

Branch theory.

Or the unification and segregational bridge, is a theory I have been developing since my later days of high school 6 years ago.

It has and will continue to develop as I grow and mature. So let it be known that the following is a work in progress.

I am a visual artist.

As such my primary means of expression involves the manipulation of light and shadow in the hopes of human interpretation.

My personal practice as an artist, while taking on the form of creation, is a means to understand, reverse-engineer, and map the world and Universe I was born into.

Yes.

My interest in art is, has, and always will be, external.

And while most accomplished artists will say that their interests are internal, or based off of the human condition, there is, in reality, no difference.

I am my environment.

Every part of my being.

Mind, bone, muscle and flesh, were shaped, sculpted and modified by the oldest and most fundamental forces in the universe.

There is no divide between the inside and out. Only reflection.

All living things are manifestation of the seemingly chaotic and purposeless universe.

A cosmic looking glass.

So now that my purpose as an artist is clear, back to branch theory.

I first came up with this theory when I was in highschool.

As a highschool student I believed I was very anti-social.

At least, that is what I believed.

What I've come to realize is that I couldn't quite find a place within my own generation.

Yes I played all the same videogames, watched all the same movies, and read all the same books.
But I found it difficult to move on from them.

How did these things get here?

These ideas, these stories, these configurations.

What was their ancestry? What common thread unites them all?

Having tought many grades and classes in the past couple of years, I've come to achieve a new perspective on the maturation of the human mind.

Children love to learn.

Not because they are children but because the world is free game.

Adults on the other hand don't learn because they are expected to know everything already.

And if they don't? They are children.

This is painful to see.

It is mostly in teenagers that I see this example take place.

Primarily in teenage boys, the importance of prescribing dominance takes precidence and as such, drives them to avoid asking "silly questions," in fear that they will lose respect amongst their peers.

But this itself follows a natural pattern.

At the point of "beggining," all objects have absolute infinite potential.

They are capable of being anything...

...but not everything.

This limitation of being, means that along the road of time, options will have to be excluded.

By the time an object has reached its end and is about to die (As a note, I define death as the segregation or disconnection between the former parts of a whole), it has exhausted its potential and has only one possibility...and that of course is death.

The image that I associate with this natural pattern is a branch.

Under differentiating circumstances this figure can also be a vein, a tree, a lightning bolt, a fissure/crack, as well as many other natural formations.

When I first developed this theory I only knew of its importance visually.

It was a constantly reocurring phenomenon that felt so abundant that I found its meaning and purpose romantic and engrossing.

The fact that this figure, was possible of taking on both negative and positive space was intriguing to me to say the least.

Now flash forward to 2009 and I now feel comfortable enough to vocalize a new chapter of discovery for this long lived (at least in my own lifetime) theory.

The patterns in unification and segregation.

Let us begin at the beginning.

The Big Bang.

According to this (widely accepted...yes I do have to stress that) theory, all matter is the result of an explosion of an extremely dense and compact point of energy smaller than an atom itself.

This can be also expressed for our purposes as "the point of unification."

During its expansion, this energy began to coalesce into clumps of basic atomic structures such as hydrogen. Then this hydrogen began to coelesce into gas, then into stars, and in stars began to fuse with other hydrogen atoms to form helium, oxygen, carbon and so on and so forth until we have completely diverese and numerous differences in celestial bodies littered all throughout the Universe.

If we wanted to specify on a single branch on the larger branch or "tree" of existance, we could also say that life as we know it, is a continuation of this cosmic pattern.

Life's strength is not through its unity, but through its differentiation.

Five major extinctions have brought life within a frighteningly large percentage of total extinction. And everytime this has only led to the dominance of a previously overlooked organism never before given the oppurtunity to explore its own potential.

This is also the case in micro-evolution. Seen constantly in the study of pathology.

It is now common knowledge within microbiology, that the overuse and abuse of antibiotics only leads to the succession of stronger, more destructive forms of bacteria, who in the diversity of those killed by antibiotics would have never had the oppurtunity to flourish and multiply.

In summary, the path to succession and survival is segregation and differentiation.

What begins as a unit, must end in fractions.

This is the universal pattern.

A tree as we see it.

A trunk that begins from the surface and branches out into the heavens.

So what about unity?

Are we destined to separate from each other despite our best efforts?

Are our triumphs in racial and gender equality all in vain?

I would answer, no.

The branches of a tree do end in fractions. There is obviously no debating that.

However what we often forget, is that there is a mirrored pattern beneath our feet.

The root theory, is a recent add-on that continues the story of segregation, and evolves it into a story of unification.

What begins as many, does possess the ability to become one.

Unification happens constantly in our universe.

The formation of nebula.

Stars.

Planets.

Life.

Every point in the sky is a story of unification.

It's only when measured against the fate of the entire Universe does this model feel hopeless.

It is agreed upon in a majority of the scientific community that the Universe will end in a slow, cold, segregational death.

Even the parts of atoms will be separated in this end and all that was will be doomed to drift...

...slowly and silently away from each other until all that will be left is the cold, dark, vacuum of
space.

So yes.

There are examples of unification.

But what hope is there when measured against the greater fate of all things?

...us.

And by us I do not mean human beings.

For years I`ve always been unclear as to the purpose of intelligent life in the universe.

I have always cherished the importance of life...but being so young, I've never been able to narrow down its fate, or its potential.

But that was because I was defining it outside the definition of life in general.

What is life?

Life is a peculiar molecule that will do what it takes to remain life over time and space.

It will dodge chaos with order.

It will dodge danger with protection.

It will even dodge decay with growth.

This is an incredible force.

A force that may find the ability to fight against the current.

And as intelligence, we are its latest "dodge" mechanic.

Yes we are young, but with time, our intelligence can dodge the decay of our planet. The decay of our sun. Perhaps even the decay of our Universe.

And given the diversity of our Universe, I find it logical to believe in the existence and occurrence of life elsewhere and perhaps the formation of biological intelligence as well.

So whereas our past as coalescing hydrogen atoms has shown us that segregation is heavily ingrained into our fate as a unified body, our future can only show us hope.

Hope that we can mature as representative force of nature, and dodge this fate.

Hope that we can unite, not in opposition with this fate, but in cooperation with it.

I might have begun this theory in duality, but as the visual nature of a tree itself has shown...

There is no separation between branches and roots.

It's all tree.

And just because we can only see one side of the pattern, doesn't mean the other side does not exist.


- Adrian B.