Oxygen captured

This sculpture represents the particle - oxygen: Particles at the atomic level are not directly observed by us but their impact fundamentally forms who we are. What I've tried to do is to interpret the science of a particle's properties (in this case oxygen) in a way that may humanise and communicate our present understandings by using an approach that allows events to occur on certain kinds of curved structures. For instance, by curling up the membrane surface, I can then drill holes to create a network of 3 or more drill holes as one expression — creating either a proton or a neutron depending upon the tightness and entry points used. Likewise by using a wavy structure I can create a network of saw cut expressions that represent the electrons.

Overall these curved structures create a framework that allow connections and entangled systems to manifest and evolve. So, when I finally reveal the results by opening out the membrane to reveal the 2D flat surface, we can view the complex structure of the individual atom at a humanistic scale.

I call this sculptural/(painting) approach Quantum Brushstrokes, as it is similar to the way artists make brushstrokes on a flat plane — there is initial contact, movement across and then an exit off the surface. The significant difference is the structure of the applied surfaces — one involves curves the other is flat respectively. However, once the results of the Quantum Brushstrokes are revealed on the 2D surface, the viewer experiences the familiar reality rather than an accrual of the method used — so this is a possible model of how the natural world is formed, at a tiny scale, by complicated structures and events that are concealed from us.