Leonard Nimoy as Spock Tribute Painting

LLAP

So, this week I was very sad to hear the news of Leonard Nimoy's merging with the infinite, and painted this portrait as a tribute.

I ruined the first version I attempted and, in the process, messed up my last sheet of Bristol Board. So I had to paint this on the back of an unused sketch of a scene from 2001: A Space odyssey. Which, I suppose, was kind of appropriate. 2001 was released two years after Star Trek first aired and they were both concerned with humanity's place in, what seemed at the time to be, a Universe that was becoming open to exploration and filled with possibilities.

But 2001 was cold and Star Trek was warm. In 2001 humanity was a part in a vast machine unable to comprehend the workings of the sublime apparatus, but in Stark Trek we explored that machine while trying to make sense of it and better understand ourselves.

Leonard Nimoy embodies the feeling of unbridled possibility that was so strong at one time. And, while playing Spock, he showed us what we could be if we lived our lives according to logic and rationality while ignoring selfishness. But he also showed us the warmth and emotion we have to retain in order to remain human.

Anyways, he was a great guy and he lived a long life that it is unfair to summarise with a single character he played. But then there are few characters as iconic as that one, few people people who could have made it that way, and no-one who could raise an eyebrow half as well.