Retinalis Acrylic

"Retinalis" is an original exobiology-inspired landscape that challenges our terrestrial bias of what a living planet should look like.

When we look at Earth’s hills, we see a sea of green fueled by chlorophyll. But with "Retinalis," I wanted to imagine an exoplanet orbiting a dim red dwarf star—such as the real-world super-Earth LHS 1140 b—where biology has taken a different, violet turn.

This piece is heavily inspired by the "Purple Earth hypothesis," the scientific theory that before chlorophyll dominated Earth, early microbes used a molecule called Retinal to harvest sunlight. Because Retinal absorbs green light and reflects red and violet, it would have blanketed the world in a vibrant purple hue.

To bring this alien ecology to life, I painted the landscape using shimmering metallic acrylics that shift and catch the light as you move past, mimicking light reflecting off thick, retinal-rich vegetation and mineral deposits.

The Bioluminescent Secret:
The true magic of this painting is revealed when the lights go out. To capture the bioluminescence of an ecosystem orbiting a dim sun, I incorporated glow-in-the-dark elements. In the dark, the twisting trees and the winding river glow with an ethereal light, representing how alien life might create its own glow to survive the long, purple nights.
Medium: Metallic and glow-in-the-dark acrylic on canvas
Style: Landscape / Surrealism / SciArt