A cuttlefish inking space.
The cuttlefish in this painting is a member of the class Cephalopoda, which also includes octopuses, squid and nautiluses. Cephalopods, the smartest invertebrates, are seemingly alien creatures, separated from humans by hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Though they inhabit the oceans of Earth, they are as close to extraterrestrial intelligences as are found on our home planet. Their nervous systems are decentralized in a manner wholly unlike those of mammals, and yet some species of cephalopods are still capable of solving complex problems just like humans are, exemplifying convergent evolution. These fascinating animals may serve as an example of an alternative form that intelligence may take in creatures that evolve on foreign planets. The wonders of life on Earth must inspire us to search for even stranger lifeforms in the abyss of space.
Original painting is oil and acrylic on canvas, 41 x 33 cm.
Hannah Payette Peterson is originally from Boston, USA, and lived in Chile and Spain before recently moving to Berlin. She is a biologist and an artist, and her paintings are very much inspired by her love of science (especially biology and astronomy) and science fiction. Her pop-surrealist style, developed with influence from artists such as Rene Magritte and magical realist literature, allows her to mix several ideas and themes into one painting to create dreamlike worlds.
This is a gallery-quality giclée art print on 100% cotton rag archival paper, printed with archival inks. Each art print is listed by sheet size and features a minimum one-inch border.