Surrealist Series
Surrealism. Imagine if you can bring something from the dream world into the real one. Whatever you manage to get will most likely be a surrealist piece. I embarked on multiple surrealist projects as the style of choice to amalgamate science and art.
Iron
- Surrealist hybrid between a watch and an anatomically accurate heart
Made using acryliques on wood and finished off with layers of varnish.
The final piece was fitted with finely designed 3D-printed PLA gears (right)
together with stainless steel pulleys (left) to add a realistic heft to the arrangement.
These were carefully married to the wood by tinkering with thicknesses and careful use of colour to give the illusion of more depth.
The gears are capable of spinning slightly to elaborate on the mechanistic aesthetics.
As I replaced what could have been flesh with areas designated for mechanisms I set myself as a microcosm of how society encourages us to become less human.
We see each other in the same way a watchmaker would categorize watches; according to worth, practicality and resilience to conditions. Liveliness is seen as foolishness while dispassion is set as a purpose for each new heart which joins this utopia for machines and dystopia for man.
Piece slightly over A2 size and weighs 2.5kg
Fragile
- Surrealist hybrid between a gramophone and a brain.
Made using oils on wood and finished off with layers of varnish.
The final piece was fitted with finely designed 3D-printed PLA switches together with a stainless steel gramophone arm bolted to an actuating mechanism to add a realistic heft to the arrangement.
The cerebellum (bottom black circular structure) had been replaced by an authentic vintage Vinyl Disk.
The brain-gramophone amalgam exemplifies the fact that vinyl disks and our sanity are equally fragile and last only if taken care of.
Piece slightly over A2 size and weighs 3kg
Intracellular Voyage
This piece depicts a surrealist scenery with a sail ship heading towards the nucleus of a cell on top of the endoplasmic reticulum.
It was inspired by the mechanisms by which viruses replicate. Just like the ship, resembling a pirate's vessel, said viruses head towards the genetic material of the host cell which is contained in the blue sphere, called a nucleus. There, the viruses seek to commit their malicious deeds by reprogramming the cell into producing copies of themselves using its own resources.
This piece makes part of a category in my portfolio consisting of art inspired by science, particularly medicine, in an attempt to pull these two subjects together and break the stereotype of art and science being somewhat distant in society.
Made using oils on canvas and finished off with layers of varnish..
Piece A1 size
Kinesin Exp.
This piece depicts a surrealist scenery with trains travelling along tubular structures carrying large spherical moieties.
This was inspired by the mechanisms by which Kinesin transports materials along neuron axons. Kinesin is a little protein which just like a train, pulls material along microtubules (long tubes made of spheres) which serve as railroads in the nervous system.
This piece makes part of a category in my portfolio consisting of art inspired by science, particularly medicine, in an attempt to pull these two subjects together and break the stereotype of art and science being somewhat distant in society.
Made using oils on canvas and finished off with layers of varnish..
Piece A1 size
The Professional
- Oils on artist paper 🖌🎨
It is bewildering how easily the lay person can create a following greater than a professional in the same field.
Where professionals have to compete against non-professionals for attention and trust
Are the professionals out of touch or are the people blissfully ignorant?
A Grander Religion
- Mixed media on artist paper
Symbolises how in the same way churches are no longer the highest buildings in cities, society head towards creating a new, 'grander' religion.
A religion with 200 storey monuments, and gods made of Concrete and Stainless Steel .
A religion that guarantees money, in exchange for inner peace.
Hope in Labcoats
Painted in oils on canvas 🖌
This piece was inspired by renaissance angel paintings.
As the world experiences several health crises it becomes more obvious how imperative the works of scientists and health care workers are, not only for the advancement, but the mere maintenance of our species.
The Science of medicine will be the torch that will guide us out of dark times and with the right cooperation, will help defeat all things which hinder us from living.
Angels do exist, its just many of them wear labcoats.
Lost
"Lost" Oils on canvas (100 x 70cm)
I modelled this piece off of a strange dream I had in the official last week of my degree.
While I was tempted to treat it just like any other unusual dream, I felt that it perfectly expresses the feeling many freshly graduated students experience. 🎓
For most our lives we are drip fed the idea that finishing school is a scenario to be met with joy and flying graduate caps.
But the emotion which more accurately describes this moment is the anxiety of feeling lost.
It's a time you've anticipated but once you're here, everything looks so familiar, but new. One hour you're a University student and the next, you're done. You're given the keys to adulthood regardless if you know how to use them.
Dreams have always been a topic that fascinated me especially due to the fact that they are still considered as a mystery to neuroscience 🧠
Pushing for further dream research should not be considered childish in my opinion, as it is a fundamental feature of our personhood 🔬
A good way to start is to normalise keeping a #dreamjournal and analyze the dreams in relation to the individual both psychologically and neurologically 💡
Next place
The last artwork of 2020 🖌🎨
oils on canvas depicting hot-air balloon approaching a blackhole 🎈
Inspired by our journey from the year 2020 to 2021. So many people rant about how much they want to escape 2020, but to where? The future is practically like a blackhole; it pulls everything towards it but no one knows what we'll find within.
It's naive to think that a hard year will automatically make the following a much better one simply cause we 'deserve' a break.
On the bright side, the future is only as good as we make it. So with enough love and science, let's make it an amazing one.
Cancer
This painting oilsoncanvas is my answer to what it feels like to do cancer research 🔬
The concept started off as a sketch of a fictional creature I invented when pondering the question; what would cancer look like if it was a free-living organism?
This was amalgamated into a #surrealist setting with a little submarine /craft approaching from the left.
The exaggerated proportions are meant to symbolise how small the individual #scientist feels next to something as extensively menacing as cancer 🧫
Unnamed
This painting (oils on canvas) is a reflection of the conflict between the reality that the universe is complicated and the desire to live simply.
The anatomy suggests that nature is in fact complicated and cumbersome but despite this knowledge, it takes discipline to keep one's life simple. The simple pleasures and sorrows that help keep our humanity and sanity rooted.
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Love.Death.Cancer
Over a year in the making 🎨
oil on canvas inspired by my 2+ years undergoing a PhD in Cancer research 🔬
Symbolizes the realization that the pursuit to curing cancer becomes less of an arithmetic goal but more of a moral duty.
Recommends the hope that after a long and excruciating battle against illness, one day, a cure will reign victorious ..
Maybe
Another artwork wrapped; oils on canvas 🎨
A depiction of leukaemia cells taking the shape of a yin yang ☯️ Represents the 2 extreme emotions in Cancer research.
One is the hope that a solution will reduce Cancer growth while the other is fear that after the Cancer has been controlled, it might return with more fierceness 🔬 So it's a representation of both hope and fear. Both necessary in keeping prospects realistic and grounded for the betterment of everyone.
The universe background represents the universality of this philosophy, not just in research or medicine.
