B2FH (2012-2019)

B2FH takes its name from the 1957 astronomy research paper entitled “Synthesis of the Elements in Stars” as a shorthand way of referring to its authors Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler and Hoyle. This paper first explored the theory of stellar neucleosynthesis, the notion that all chemical elements (and therefore all the properties of life) are created within stars like our sun.

Linking the micro and macrocosmic worlds, juxtaposing imagery from bacteria or wood patterning with imagery from stars and nebulae; the viewer is taken on a journey through the universe and asked to reflect on their own position within it. Scintillation, the same process that occurs in the sparkling that we see in stars, is replicated through the double layer technique he uses in these works. The pieces are therefore much more visually rich when experienced in person than it is able to capture in photographs.

The dual layers of the piece are also intended to evoke ideas about the place of beauty within this system. Our naive notion of beauty is that there are visual, tangible things that evoke what we consider to be beautiful. However, beauty is often an indefinable reaction to something, a moment.

Beauty is therefore much more than what is on the surface, it is something within.

Orbis Tertius (2015-2018)

These works are intricate pen and ink drawings of entirely imaginary planets that I have chosen to create as a meditative exercise. I’m not entirely sure of the specific reasons why I felt compelled to create them, and there is no deeper meaning behind the process other than it being a whimsical flight of the imagination. As a child, I would often delight in creating elaborate imaginary treasure maps of fictional islands, and in some way, this artistic endeavor is merely a natural continuation of that childhood pastime. The title of this series draws inspiration from the thought-provoking story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges, which explores a fictional world known as Tlön, where its inhabitants adhere to a form of subjective idealism. They deny the existence of an objective reality and communicate in a language that intriguingly lacks nouns, further emphasizing the themes of imagination and perception.