Homunculus Experitmenting with the Essence of Life

Per David Rush description on Flickr: "This, along with the most recent "Mandala" painting, are among the most ambitious paintings I've completed up to this point. The homunculus represents Humanity and how we have been playing with the essence of existence since our species first came into being. "Homunculus" translates from its Latin origins as "little man" and metaphorically speaking, with regard to this painting, I intended to portray the idea that while human beings are the most intelligent animals this planet has ever seen, we run the risk of overestimating our intellectual abilities. The ant crawling from one of the homunculus' hands carrying a microchip was based on a picture from a book containing microphotographs, and I found it interesting that it combines one of the most primitive forms of organic life with the most advanced form of something inorganic, a type of contrast I found interesting.

As a sidenote, when my mother saw this painting for the first time at a gallery show on May 31st (2008), she asked me if this was inspired by a bad dream I had one night. Not exactly, I said, but the analogy is fitting."