Abstract rock art by nature as artist on the sunny shoreline of the rainbow nation

During my hike along the Cape south coast of Africa recently I came across the most colorful rocks and boulders that looked as if some abstract artist had splashed orange paint all over them. The place was just lit up like a sun splash. It was as if the sun god had splashed the place with his sun rays and those rays had solidified and stained the rock surface wherever it landed.

However, it was actually a normal feature of the local rock formations here on the southernmost shores of Africa. I’m no expert in geology but I presume this sunny color comes from the mineral in the rock. On the other hand it could be due to some kind of lichen that lives on the rock. I simply don’t know for sure.

Nevertheless, the African shoreline looks really spectacular when you’re walking around submerged in a wash of rich ochre, as if walking through a field of blossoming flowers, just more rigid and hardcore. It’s hard rock at its most colorful, like a live AC/DC concert. And as I looked closer at the rock, I noticed that all sorts of colors appeared to emerge from the same rock surface. Along with the rich bright ochre, I could see some opposing black speckles. What a contrast!

Nature really has revealed its spectacular artistic skills here. All the abstract shapes and colors are just one massive art work. No wall is big enough to hang it. It’s more of an installation piece where the sculpture is just all over. It’s as if the gallery itself is the art work. I was walking about immersed in the art sculpture, like a digital avatar walking about in the immersive Metaverse. However, I needed no goggles to enter the VR space. It was real and live.

Life is going into Web 3.0 and the next level of cyberspace. The future next generation up and coming now – Gen Z – are going to live most of their time in the Metaverse in coming years. It will be all digital and dissociated from the real world of hard rock, salty sea and wide open blue sky. As an older generation Gen X, I wonder how ideal that will be?

Personally I love the open space and fresh air to be found in my rocky world on the southernmost shores of Africa here. The landscape appeals to me. I suppose we could get an even more attractive landscape in the Metaverse, but how fresh will the air be? How fit will my muscles be if I’m not exercising them by climbing the cliffs or hopping over the rocks? The future looks quite interesting.

As long as it has sun splashed rocks like these that I find on my hikes, I guess it will appeal. But the original rock that I find here today will have to be the example to follow. Look at all the fascinating shapes and colors dotted all over the landscape. The ochre may be quite familiar but if you look closely you can see the opposite color emerging on some rocks. I actually came across some splashes of turquoise that ran along a small stretch of rock and that really surprised me even more.

The combination of contrasting ochre and turquoise was a major eccentric sight to behold. What was the artist thinking to come up with such a stylish contrast of palette? And this cool pale turquoise section of rock did not look like lichen but rather like the actual rock itself. How did the rock go from one extreme to the other in color, right next to each other?

I see plenty of the burnt orange rock surface in this part of the south coast of Africa but the turquoise shades I found today were really a new sight to behold. And it’s a rare little slither of the coast that seems to have it. What a pleasant diversity on this rocky canvass. I love the clash of juxtaposing shades here. You can see them lighting up the landscape on this Indian Ocean shoreline here in my photos. Let me know what you think of the rich shades of color here today, and what you think causes it.

(photos my own)