Hell: The Dark Side of Life

Reflections on Hell 2010

This collection was inspired by my intense fascination of the world, the human mind and the infliction of pain upon the creatures that wonder the planet. Inside the micro-universe of our minds, we have the ability to be consumed with anger, enveloped in tranquility, tormented by pain or overcome with happiness.

"If we long to believe that the stars rise and fall for us,

that we are the reason there is a universe, does science

do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?" - Carl Sagan

"There's a pang in all rejoicing, And a joy in the heart of pain; And the wind that saddens, the sea that gladdens, Are singing the selfsame strain." - Bayard Taylor

"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love." - Carl Sagan


"Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other."
Laurence Sterne

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were.
But without it we go nowhere." - Carl Sagan

Schizophrenic

Raging Bull 2010

My pieces evolved from playing around with oil paint, using white-spirit to create a layered effect when the oil had dried. I abandoned the use of oil following this collection (for a while), as my impatience and love of immediate gratification was no marriage for something that requires patience and time

Max da Silva