University of Michigan Taubman/Forbes
Art + Science

Encaustic, mixed media on braced wood panel; 24" x 24" total

Click here to read more about the Taubman Art + Science event.

Dr. Reddy is like a choreographer, directing all of the moving parts in every direction possible. In his own words, “What appears to be chaotic is actually very ordered.” I tried to capture that and our shared appreciation of the beauty and magic of the immune system.

Clockwise from upper left:

Subway: The seed for this piece was the little noticed, but to me beautiful, yellow textured platforms in the NYC subway stations. So much goes unseen or taken for granted, not the least of which is the immune system. Anomalies that could be dangerous to the immune system are in red and black. The gold composite celebrates victory over the organic invader and the pyramid evokes the ancient struggle against cancer.

Buenos Aires Schedule: This idea originated with a bus schedule that moves millions of humans daily in a controlled and orderly way. The white space is the portal through which even a single cancer cell can enter. Order on the outside, chaos on the inside.

Hope in the Cosmos: I see hope and struggle in both the cosmos and in the lab. The codes and characters of a scientific language, magic and a hint of cellular order are etched into the red and blackness of this piece.

False Signals: When a bone marrow transplant goes awry, the host’s healthy cells are attacked by donor cells (GvHD). Call it mutiny, mistaken identity, not recognizing one’s own shadow, but in this work it all came down to signals getting crossed and rejected identity.  The transparency of the encaustic medium worked well for demonstrating the loss of definition.