Photograph by:  Jonathan Carroll

Title:  A Passion for Discovery

It was an amazing night over in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, as a group of young, talented artists and scientist gave a presentation on their involvement in their respective field.  From a personal standpoint, I could’ve listened to Dr. James Beecham, a particle physicist, talk for hours.  This is a subject which has greatly influenced my work, as it forces you to realize that the surface we see is not only dull, but far from the complete picture.  There is a certain level of passion that I just can’t ignore when it comes to how physicists will not stop until all the fundamental building blocks of matter have been discovered:  a passion which was expressed wholeheartedly in the presentation by Dr. Beecham, and certainly by the rest of the panel, and audience members as well.

Being an artist, not a scientist, I’ve always wondered exactly how artists who are inspired by the field deal with their incompetency of the factual knowledge it’s based on.  This was best illustrated in the presentation by Martha Lewis, who even goes as far as using the technical terminology associated with what inspired her to make the piece.  Unabashed –and for good reason, as the work she creates is quite lovely — Ms. Lewis had no problem explaining that a large portion of the material which inspired her, she did not comprehend.  Whereas I find myself capable of understanding the material, and I feel from the way Lewis spoke about the sources of her inspiration she understands more than she may give herself credit, conveying an understanding is not the point of either of our works.  Lewis even said that she greatly enjoys working with science, but would never actually want to make representational models of the material.  This point highly reflects my own sensibility, and clearly illustrates an attempt to have art remain in the realm of the imagination:  a place which is becoming harder to find in a world saturated by technical devices centered on achieving realism.

So, a big thanks goes out to Torino & Margolis, Carter Hodgkin, Dr. James Beecham, Dr. Lee von Krauss, Martha Lewis, and gallery owner Maddy Rosenburg (and crew), for providing such a wonderful presentation on the world of Art and Science.  Until next time….

-Jonathan