It’s a 64,000 year old painting made by Neanderthals on the wall of a cave, well before humans even came to Europe. Maybe they were having a good time before we arrived.
It looks like art that humans would go on to make much later: 20/30,000 years after in Indonesian and French caves, 10,000 years ago in a cave in Argentina (the most famous image of a hand-stenciled cave I know of), and 80 years ago in Manhattan when Abstract Expressionism broke.
Something is really beautiful about a hand painting another hand, tracing that second hand’s shape. It’s what babies learn how to do the first time they draw, it’s someone’s first self-portrait, first signature. In a cave it’s the highest or lowest of art, a mural on a church wall or graffiti in someone’s home. It’s the artists’ mark on their world reaching into ours, or self-incriminating fingerprints, or an entire species waving goodbye. The ultimate: I was here.
Also, I don’t think we have many other examples of non-human art.
Jun 27, 2024
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Find a rock that looks like it could be a cave and then make cave paintings on them. Those are your ancestors :)
Feb 18, 2025
If the art doesn’t turn out well, you get to have some relief in the mess left on your hands 😌
Apr 8, 2025
🖌
I get sick of reading on vacation, and frankly, it seems wrong to stare at pages all day when you’re somewhere fun. For the past few years, my girlfriend and I have rented a house on a Greek Island. Before I leave NYC, I call an art store in Athens and have them stretch a few canvases for me. When I arrive, I pick them up along with some oil paints, turpentine, and some other supplies and go straight to the ferry. At the house, I set up an easel out of ladder and some wood, in a cave next door to the house that has an amazing view of an azure sea cove below. The cave offers some welcome shade from the blazing Greek sunshine, and it feels great to paint pictures in the open air. The cave makes it private, but the opening to the Aegean Sea makes it not feel claustrophobic. The paintings are usually dry by the time we leave, and I got this old lady down the street to hold my supplies until the next summer when I return. I once saw pictures of Julien Schnabel’s Montauk studio which is basically a gigantic deck with three huge walls and no ceiling, which was kind of my inspiration for trying this. Painting takes longer than sketching in a little book, and it’s more physical than photographs. Every time you look at the paintings, you’ll remember the place where you did them. Everyone should try it.
Jan 27, 2023
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