Humans are conditioned to crave answers to the unknown. Much of our world is overlooked or unnoticed, but in actuality  it is quite close to us personally and internally. Our conceptual and visual world is just a small part of the universe; however, the universe is unified by the coagulation of smaller units, microscopic units.

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Through the conglomeration of whimsical strokes and tender details, I present LUCA, a visual exploration of a microscopic world presented macroscopically. What do microbes and diseases such as cancer look like magnified? Can we find beauty in such terrible accumulations of cells? How can these otherworldly, tiny subjects intrigue and unify us?  This body of work seeks to explore these questions while feeding on our natural human curiosity to explore the unfamiliar.

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The magnified images portrayed are extra-terrestrial to the naked eye. These unseen, microscopic organisms, alien creatures, and spikey structures generate an intense portion of our reality. Like tiny little puzzle pieces, they coalesce to form the bones of what we see and perceive. These miniscule structures and organisms are what unify such a massive ethereal into one cohesive unit. They can create wonderful, organic beauty, yet in its dark reflection, they can be so terrible in that such pink and plush pillows metastasize into lumps upon a woman’s breast.

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My abstract forms were created to bring to light, in not always a comfortable fashion, the microscopic world that creates this incredible macroscopic one. The paintings and sculptures consist of large forms that are made up of intricate details, organic shapes, and flowing brushstrokes. They are executed in an abstract manner, to make a not so approachable and understandable subject, intriguing and inviting. Large tondo canvases felt only befitting to mirror the surfaces of the petri dishes we study them on. Much of my inspiration derives from looking at unique and manipulated cells and configurations under a microscope. The technique at which these pieces are executed, mirror that of an inquisitive researcher looking down and manipulating organisms on a small, delicate glass slide. As I stand over my pieces to work on them, I am conducting an experiment in its self in how the materials merge and form a study.  

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Many people served as an inspiration to not just this body of work but my work that has developed from a young age. Lisa Rich is a main inspiration to this instillation with her untraditional abstract pieces. Her attention to materials, such as thread, presented a window of opportunity to test out making traditionally two-dimensional work also three-dimensional. Lindsey Piper’s abstract paintings contain a great deal of movement even while the paint remains still on the canvas which is extraordinarily unique in that it captures and preserves life. Ernst Haeckel, has always been an inspiration with his drawings and paintings with their intricate details that bring tiny subjects and flat surfaces to life. His sophisticated, intricate sketches drove my passion to pay close attention to the smallest of details in my own works and studies.

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As a unit, my works form a feeling of Alice in wonderland, by greatly enlarging our perspective of something small to be something large. I aim to open eyes to something that is so small and delicate but unifies the world around us.