Artist Statement

As a biological scientist and researcher, I have devoted much of my academic life to studying Life and its underlying structure and shape. Nevertheless, I identify with the spirit of the ages of alienation and displacement towards the natural world (and the spiritual world). From the beginnings of human civilization, bioengineering has been a part of the way humans deal with the universe. Accompanying the progression of civilization we can also observe the increasing separation of Man from nature, isolating himself in caves of steel and cement surrounded by virtual artificial information, slowly dehumanizing Nature and dismissing mythology. It can be observed that in a sense while we are more “connected” to everyone else than ever, we are also observing maybe the highest levels of social alienation.

I base this project on images I have collected in the course of research In my art, I look at the cellular level of organisms, to show the fascination and respect of a biologist and, by showing different organisms, to hint at the universal base of living things. I work from photographs I took during the course of my research and try to portray with heavy textures and bright contrasts an idea of Life, as a dynamic energy, found in every living thing.

"Sea urchin embryos at 18h, stained for primary mesenchyme cells. Observation of skeletal ring."
This piece was born out of photographs of sea urchins I took as part of a SURG project during the summer of summer of 2003 with Dr. Charles Ettensohn. We profiled the developmental activity of b-catenin during sea urchin early embryogenesis, which means determining the window of time in which the ß-catenin pathway is actively signaling.

"Hippocampus of transgenic mice where the expression of the activity related gene C-Fos was accompanied with the expression of green fluorescent protein for the study of sensorial learning."
I worked with Dr. Allison Barth during the summer 2002. At this time. I mapped the barrel field in mouse cortex in the context of studying neuron plasticity in sensorial learning.
See the conflict of the compartimentalization between humanities/sciences showing between psychology and neuroscience, when we are at a point in which neuroscientists are studying learning, memory and addiction in the laboratory.

“Mouse somatosensory cortex pyramidal neuron – the Spines”
Neurons extend dendrites in all directions to make contact with
neighboring cells. The points of contact between dendrites are characterized by a small protrusion, the spine. Dr. Barth’s research points to the independent reaction of these spines in response to a stimuli.

This painting is inspired by the luminescence of fluorescent imaging of neuron spines obtained in the course of electrophysiological recording, highlighting the independent activity of each spine with different temperature colors.

"Instinct I and II - Hereditary memory
Mouse olfactory bulbs"
Working in the neurobiology laboratory with Dr. Nathan Urban at the Mellon Institute, I learned about ongoing research on the subject of olfactory memory, which is believed to be hereditary and, consequentially, innate. In other words, they are uncovering the biological foundation for a form of instinct, a form of expression of the unconscious, and something until now of the pervay of psychology if at all considered by any science. The notion of hereditary memory and instinct in mice proposes that the same processes happen in human beings, opening once more the Pandora’s box of our unconscious mind from a purely scientific direction.

"Instinct III & IV - Cooperation at the Cellular Level
Neurons in the mouse olfactory bulbs."
The same study also uncovered interactions between neuron cells at such a complex level that baffles the scientists and suggests new concepts for describing them, such as intentionality and cooperation at the cellular level. These ideas tie-in with a big polemic trend called “holistic biology” that avers that at all levels of organic life (and maybe inorganic) from system to organismic to molecular level we find traits that are usually reserved only for sentient organisms (which only categorizes human beings) such as cooperation, altruism, agency. The attribute that has been causing the most polemic is the ability to self-organize, since many scientists believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution implicates a slower evolution (by random mutation) that is not accounted for completely in fossil records.

“Instinct V - Deimos
Neurons of the Lymbic System"
This piece relates another piece of evidence of Biology uncovering the biological basis for an instinct, in this case the instinct to fear. Dr. Norberto Coimbra in the University of Ribeirao Preto is doing research on the inborn reflex of fear in mice.