The painting includes symbols such as the butterfly, bodies of water, and marine life, which have been part of the artist's visual imagery for over forty years. The composition develops the artist's interest in the history of music, theories of evolution, space, and time.

 'Canon' references the total concept of ontological evolution as seen in the discourse of biological theories of determinism, species selection, and adaptation, by creating a visual analogy to a canon of music in the form of chemical bonds. These bonds develop into cellular spheres with human figures becoming physically propogated among waves in a cosmic landscape.