New directions - Work generated by the Residency at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
In 2003, Todd Golub, then an Oncologist at Dana Farber in Boston (who was to go on to co-found the Broad and direct its cancer group), wrote to me about work of mine he had seen at the Wheatleigh Hotel In Lenox, MA. Among other things, he mentionned his interest in the connection between art and science. This led to a series of visits and collaboration which eventually led to my residency at the Broad Institute for Genetic research, at MIT and Harvard. In my early discussions with Todd about the nature of Art and Science we found that we shared a common perspective, namely that one can look at “fundamental science” and “fundamental art” as both seeking to put together a vision of the world, with the tools at their disposal, and within a fairly coherent historical tradition, which in turn allows these views to be understood.
Much as physics was seen to dominate and shape our view in the 20th Century, biology seems poised to define the 21st.
As I am fascinated with world view and paradigm shifts, I had a desire to experience this process first-hand rather than from the ambient culture, and so I took up Todd’s invitation and started to visit the Broad on a regular basis. After a year or so of short informal visits, it seemed that a more sustained residency was the best way to plumb some of these questions.
My work at the Broad is focused on two directions:
- On the one hand, I am making my own work – painting, drawing, modeling in the computer – as well as collecting ideas through discussion with members of the Broad community about the research they are involved in. In my own experimentation I want to explore in the visual realm some of the thought processes of genomic research.
- I am also collaborating with specific research projects, with the aim of allowing a deeper exchange between us. Through these collaborations, I hope to attain a better understanding of the knowledge being generated at the Broad, and to contribute my own knowledge of visual organization and analysis to the research. I am currently working with Ben Ebert and Aravind Subramanian on their Dmap project.
Over the past year, I have begun to develop a process which quite fortuitously has some interesting connections to the work being pursued at the Broad.
I have started working in watercolor on grids made up of 8x8 inch sheets of paper. At each state (perhaps the end of a day) each sheet is scanned into the computer. This allows me to continue working on the drawings while generating a database of images. Each drawing can either continue in its original grid order, or a single sheet can be used as the basis of a new grid, or may take on a life of it's own.
The digital states also allow work to go on in the computer, mixing images, taking elements of on into the other, or drawing with a tablet.
These digital states can then be printed, reworked in water color, scanned once again...
Click on image to see full collection
