The Narrative That Makes an Artwork Endure
First Contemplation (2002) marks the initial pulse of a visionary narrative that would later unfold in the forty-six artworks comprising the Series Dream of a Night in Giza, and which would ultimately mature in its literary extension, The Legacy of Neferu. This painting is not merely a beginning; it is the moment a story awakens—where the image and its myth establish a pact of continuity. Here, Dan Aug understands painting as a vehicle through which a narrative can live, grow, and transcend the boundaries of time.
In the foreground is Neferu, the young witness and protagonist of this unfolding story. Her nude figure—seen from behind, contemplative rather than exposed—invites the viewer to share her gaze. She sits before a landscape where myth and the future converge on a single horizon. The imposing formation before her corresponds to the primordial mound (“Benben”) of Egyptian cosmogony—the first emergent form from the infinite waters of Nun. It rises as a sacred point of origin, a reminder of the universe ordering itself into meaning.
To the right unfolds an otherworldly metropolis: structures of crystalline blue that extend majestically and elevated walkways that spiral upwards into the atmosphere. This is not merely a city, but an alien civilization—perhaps very ancient—suggesting an intelligence beyond Earth's chronology. Above, two suns illuminate the sky: one, a white star radiant with vitality; the other, a giant of intense red descending. Their double radiance suggests parallel worlds, cosmic rebirth, and the simultaneity of time.
Neferu does not simply observe this world; she enters it through contemplation. Her gaze becomes the threshold. The narrative ignites here, traveling from canvas to canvas, and later from page to page. In this continuity, the artwork demonstrates its guiding truth: when a story is carried forward—when its meaning remains active across lives, mediums, and eras—art does not merely endure. It becomes myth.