Planet Earth | Eternal Path

Background:

The artwork entitled 'Planet Earth | Eternal Path' by Massimo Agostinelli from the 2015 ‘Anagrams Series’ depicts a view of planet Earth taken from NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Earth’s tilted axis allows us to view, the African and Antarctic continent as well as three oceans and three seas. Atlantic, Southern and Indian Ocean including the Mediterranean, Arabian and Red Sea.

The colorful blue ‘marble like’ surface of both water and land is filled with detailed depth and clarity giving a vivid and raw portrayal of our “pale blue dot”.

Agostinelli attempts to give the viewer a sense of perspective using only shining stars emitting rays of light reflected from the Sun while Earth is suspended in the vast universe of darkness within our Milky Way galaxy. The clouds are also visible in a dramatic topographical view, climatically changing and twisting across the continental lands and oceans.

Our first ancestors or early humans known as Homo erectus originated from Africa over 2 millions years ago. It is for this reason that it is profoundly significant to be able to view Earth from this particular angle, as the African continent is indeed the cradle of civilization and point of origin and in a sense our ‘eternal path’.

Process:

Agostinelli uses a medium known as ‘Lenticular Printing’. The lenticular acrylic pigment is used in a complex multi step process consisting of several images and frames interlacing to combine what appears to be an image with real depth and three-dimensional effects. The lenticular lens allows for the‘Anagram Text’ to alternate and flip back and forth seamlessly depending on the angle viewed. All framing is hand painting at the MA Studio and fitted with UV protective museum quality glass.

* Disclaimer: Massimo Agostinelli has acquired all copyrights to the image(s) in use and has modified them in order to comply with each subject matter.