THREE WISE MYSTICS
A self-set project to end a two year long oil-painting hiatus..
The concept is loosely inspired by the ‘Three Wise Monkeys’ - a Japanese pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil".
Painted in oils on 8x10 inch gesso-primed wood panels. Each piece references a goddess, accompanied by an insect and its heightened sense of sight, sound or hearing.
You can find fun little facts and reasoning behind each of the selected insects below.
VISUS
The eyes of the Common Bluebottle Butterfly [Graphium Sarpedon] found at least 15 different classes of photoreceptors, these are light-detecting cells comparable to the rods and cones of the human eye, which has 4 classes of photoreceptors. Previously, no insect was known to have more than 9.
Photoreceptors are used at the same time, sensing colour, brightness, movement and shape. The Bluebottle Butterfly has 7 different cells for identifying colour alone, including ultraviolet!
ORATIO
Cicadas hold the record for the loudest insect in the world.
For perspective, normal conversation between humans is recorded at about 60 decibels. But some cicada species, such as the Greengrocer cicada [Cyclochila Australasiae] found along the south-east coast of Australia, can reach 120 decibels!
This is on the edge of causing pain or injury to human ears, which generally occurs at about 130 decibels.
AUDIRE
Moths have evolved sensitive hearing that can pick up the ultrasonic probes of bats that want to eat them. But one species, the Greater Wax Moth [Galleria Mellonella], can sense frequencies up to 300 kilohertz, which is 15 times the frequency humans can hear at our prime, around 20 kHz.
Research suggest that some bats have evolved echolocation calls that are out of the hearing range of the moths they are hunting. But the Wax Moth can hear the calls of any bat species.
![YEAR OF THE GOAT [CHINESE ZODIAC COLLECTION]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5503de88e4b0bf46165dc1a1/1642665799162-54BWFOB148L3N5IWG599/CZ+-+YEAR+OF+THE+GOAT.jpg)
![YEAR OF THE RAT [CHINESE ZODIAC COLLECTION]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5503de88e4b0bf46165dc1a1/1642665823766-QCQK7UKAFQLWEIHOPX54/CZ+-+YEAR+OF+THE+RAT.jpg)
