Portfolio > Sculpture/Painting

Cell Agglomeration
Cell Agglomeration
Vinyl, sequins, beads, thread, ink
~30 x 24 inches
2015

This piece, “Cell Agglomeration”, came together as the result of a show put on by the Musée Curie in which artists were given groups of images, taken by the scientists at the Institut Curie, to interpret in the creation of an art form. I chose images of fluorescently labeled cells because I was drawn to the accumulative layering of cells or cell-like bodies in the microscope/data images. Physically there are so many layers of complexity (and cells!) in living tissue, and I really liked that there was a visual representation of this agglomeration of cells and cell parts in those photos. For my sculptural piece, I wanted to emphasize the layering of cell bodies, as well as the accumulation of repetitive shapes to create a whole tissue-like structure. I picked vinyl as a material because of its translucency, which allows for layered drawings, as well as its fun, vibrant fluorescent colours, which mimics the colours of fluorescence microscopy. As a hanging outdoor sculpture, the vinyl also allows for light to play a part in creating additional layers of “drawings” on the ground. The sequins and beads, as well as the small drawings, in and on each “cell” abstractly demonstrate greater complexity as you move inward from the larger “tissue” to each “cell” and then its “cellular components”.