Co-Exist

=Co-Exist = toc Wolf spider, flower, locust, plastic, resin, marble.   =**Observations:**= - the work has a cyclical shape - a hummingbird is shown feeding off a flower - the flower's stem (spider leg) appears to be supporting the hummingbird - the hummingbird is composed of flower parts

The cycle in the artist's work may be reminiscent of the ideal of the "natural cycle", in which all living creatures depend on each other. This idea is reinforced by the fact that the plant appears to hold up the bird that feeds on it. In the natural world, hummingbirds do serve as the main pollination vessels for ornithophilous flowers, and the birds feed off the nectar that the flowers produce. Scientists have gathered evidence of a "co-evolution" between ornithophilous flowers and humming birds; the flowers develop sweeter nectar and the hummingbirds develop innovative evolutionary methods of extracting it. Going back to the natural cycle, the flower is created from animal parts and the hummingbird is created from flower parts, which exemplifies the image of universal duality the artist has tried to create.
 * Symbolism:**

-Uploaded by Walter Kunkle, the Wiki Master

=﻿Cycles= I bleieve that the cycle (as stated above by Krunkle) is expressed in the real-life mutualism between a flower and a hummingbird, not just in the art. The hummingbird gains nourishment from the nectar of the flower, while pollinating it. The nourishment lets the hummingbird survive and reproduce, as does the pollination. The growth of both of these should be exponential in an ideal situation, as the pollination creates more flowers for the offspring of the hummingbird to nourish itself.

Posted by Wiki Apprentice Eric Donald

=The Giving Tree= This piece reminded me of the Shel Silverstein story "The Giving Tree". I saw a hummingbird with one flower petal, as though the hummingbird had taken the nutrients from the flower and the flower was willing to prove its last petal for the good of the hummingbird as it is carried by the stem, its own source of life. In "The Giving Tree", the tree is willing to provide a boy with whatever he wants, and as time goes the boy needs more and more from the tree. So that the boy could make a boat, the tree was cut down. Years later, when the boy returns, the tree tells him that she has nothing else to offer, to which he replies that he only requires a place to rest. "Well, an old tree stump is a good place for sitting and resting. Come boy, sit down and rest" she replied. This reminded me of "Co-Exist" in that they are able to make each other happy by providing for someone in exchange for presence alone.

Posted by Caitlin Barth.

=Bumper Sticker﻿ =

﻿[[image:http://i.ebayimg.com/01/%21Buq6QhwBWk%7E$%28KGrHqUOKisEvPFRJWzmBMBT1wU7Gg%7E%7E_12.JPG width="309" height="119"]]
-Uploaded by Sierra Debrow

= Song: "Imagine" by John Lennon = Imagine there's no Heaven Its easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today

Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one

I posted this song because both have a similar message. Coexisting is the act of living together harmoniously, without conflict or strife, and this song has the same message. Its about living in peace, with no arbitrary factors to influence us, all of mankind equal, happy, and not wanting for anything. Every single one of us having everything we need, nothing less, nothing more, enabling peace for all of mankind.

-Uploaded by Daniel Kennedy

=Analysis: Molly Leff= When analyzing this piece, it really helped me to relate myself to that of every other living creature on earth. I began thinking about how we all depend on someone else at some point in our lives and visa versa. When we are young, we need our parents to give us food and take care of us. In nature, animals depend on plants or other animals for food and shelter. To live life is to co-exist with other creatures in the world. There would be no living without some way of co-existing. Posted by: Molly Leff

=Analysis: Gaylyn Singletary= One very interesting thing about this piece is that it uses a lot of soft and calming colors, one of which is pink. Pink is usually used in art and in literature to describe something or someone as being motherly or having a nourishing quality. In "Coexist", both the bird and the flower are made of mostly soft pinks, which makes it seem as though they both are sharing the pink together. the shared pink is like the shared nourishment which further emphasizes the title of the piece. Posted by: Gaylyn Singletary

My interpretation of this piece was that the humming bird and the flower,flowed in a circular direction around each other like the movements in the yin and yang symbol. This symbol emphasizes the balance and harmony of nature and the flowing cycle between the two living objects. The humming bird benefits from the flower by drinking its nectar while the flower benefits from having its pollen spread throughout the environment, producing more plants. The color of the bird and of the flower are the same, which indicates the connection between the two.
 * Co-Exist: Daniel Yaussy**

 = co·ex·ist = [ koh-ig-**zist** ]      <span class="pg" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;">//**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">–verb <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; cursor: default; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">(used <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">without object)  **// <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px 3px;"><span class="dnindex" style="color: #7b7b7b; display: block; float: left; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 28px;">**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">1. ** <span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">to exist <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; cursor: default; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">together <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">or at the same time. <span class="dnindex" style="color: #7b7b7b; display: block; float: left; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 28px;">**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">2. ** <span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">to exist <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; cursor: default; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">separately or independently <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">but pea-ceably, oftenwhile remaining rivals or <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; cursor: default; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static;">adversaries (courtesy of www.dictionary.com)

When reading the second definition provided by this online dictionary source, one can see an often overlook factor of coexistence. In this definition one can see that despite and a peaceful and sometimes separate relationship there can still be a rivalry between the two involved in a coexisting relationship. In applying this to Ben Timpson's painting "Co-Exist" I see a peaceful relationship between a hummingbird and what looks to be a flower, the hummingbird taking nectar from the flower. Although this is a peaceful relationship I noticed the ever so slight disconnect between the stem of the flower and the hummingbird. While the hummingbird is using the flower for its nutrients, the flower and its stem and in no way further helping or using the hummingbird. This disconnect, while not being necessarily a sign of any sort of rivalry still shows how co-existence can be defined in many different ways and is not always mutually beneficial.

Added by Elise Gruber

=Recycle=



The cycle of life is a theme common in nature images, and in "Co-Exist" this theme is shown in both the shape, a cycle similar to the iconic recycling image, and in the subject matter, a bird, a twig, and a flower. The biological cycle of life, wherein the remains of dead animals fertilizes plants, such as the twig, the twig grows a flower, and the flower brings nutrition to the hummingbird, thereby refreshing the cycle. Ideas of reincarnation, where one lives through a life, and after death, comes into a new life, thereby being in cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The hummingbird is a strong symbol of life, a lively yet fragile animal constantly in motion. The triangular motion is one of rotation, reinforcing the cycles found in "Co-Exist."

This interpretation just got interpreted by __//**BIVALVES LOON**//__.

=﻿Image: Laura Fleming= This image agrees with the message shown through Ben Timpson's //Co-exist.// It shows the balance of life in nature between plants and animals. The bees survive on the nectar of the plants which, in turn, thrive off of this process of pollination.

=﻿Land of Confusion by Genesis= I must've dreamed a thousand dreams Been haunted by a million screams But I can hear the marching feet They're moving into the street Now did you read the news today They say the danger's gone away But I can see the fire's still alight There burning into the night There's too many men, too many people Making too many problems And not much love to go round Can't you see this is a land of confusion? Well this is the world we live in And these are the hands we're given Use them and let's start trying To make it a place worth living in Ooh, Superman where are you now When everything's gone wrong somehow? The men of steel, the men of power Are losing control by the hour This is the time, this is the place So we look for the future But there's not much love to go round Tell me why, this is a land of confusion This is the world we live in And these are the hands we're given Use them and let's start trying To make it a place worth living in I remember long ago when the sun was shining Yes, and the stars were bright all through the night And the sound of your laughter as I held you tight, so long ago I won't be coming home tonight My generation will put it right We're not just making promises That we know, we'll never keep Too many men, there's too many people Making too many problems And not much love to go round Can't you see, this is a land of confusion? Now this is the world we live in And these are the hands we're given Use them and let's start trying To make it a place worth fighting for This is the world we live in This is the world we live in And these are the names we're given Stand up and let's start showing Just where our lives are going to These are the lyrics to Genesis's "Land of Confusion." It has an identical message to Co-Exist, and that is one of keeping the balance with nature and harmonizing. Submitted by Ryan Mainous

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= =Evolution= Co-exist shows the evolution of the flower and its mutualism with the hummingbird. This specific species of flower evolved to grow a "landing zone" for the hummingbird, making the bird more likely to land and feed/pollenate at the flower where it can rest. Because there are more flowers than there are hummingbirds, this is a competitive advantage in a world where being pollenated means life. The flower then shares a mutualistic relationship with the bird; the flower is pollenated and the bird is fed. Note: This is an example depicted in the artwork and I do not know if it stems from fact. -Chad Gallati

=﻿Hummingbird= The right half of this image looks like a hummingnird like the one pictured above. Hummingbirds are important to the survival of many flowers that the cross polinate by using their beaks, by transferring nectar from one flower to another. This goes along with the name of the piece "Co-exist," because the hummingbirds are co-existing with the flowers to help them both to survive. This is awesome how nature has this all planned out and worked on, and I believe that is what Ben was trying to point out in this piece. -Libby Zanin