This 36 x 46 inch work consists of 2 small paintings attached to a larger painting using oil, acrylics, acetate and collage. Between the small paintings a piece of mat board covered with star printed paper and painted acetate gives the effect of deep space. It is written on the acetate in paint “That’s All Folks! THE END!”
This painting was inspired by a collage of the female figure from the waist up that fell on the floor upside down on top of the legs of another painting suggesting a birthing figure. Also scientists had just succeeded in capturing a photo of the exact moment of human conception when a zinc flash of light occurs that is visible under the microscopic lens. A picture of that is collaged onto the star printed skirt of the Mother Earth figure. The God figure in the upper left painting watches the profusion of life forms bursting forth with his Jester but they are no longer amused. Seeing a mushroom cloud and a murder happening on the right side of the painting, God has just unleashed the Four Horses of the Apocalypse (from the New Testament Book of Revelation) who are rushing into the earthly plane. The black horse is Famine, the white horse is Conquest, the red horse is War and the pale horse is Death. The penguin/vulture birds wait patiently below among falling leaves to clean up the aftermath. The title of the painting, “In the Beginning There Was THE END”, underscores the idea that THE END was planned just as much as the beginning and all life on Earth is temporary.
In The Beginning There Was “THE END” by Ellen Chadwick, oil on canvas, 36″x46″, 2018, in collection of the artist.