“The Enemy Within”, acrylic on canvas. Photo by Shaela Cook.
Sometimes it can be an exercise in futility to explain one’s art to people: creativity is so personal and subjective. Lately I’ve fielded a few questions about my art; in particular, the Periodic Table of Elements painting that started it all.
It was back in 2005 that I started my search for a vintage periodic table to fill a space on my wall. I’ve always had a slight obsession with medical and scientific ephemera, as also detailed in this previous, controversial post. I was looking for a very specific size, and wanted it to have some color in it, if possible. After searching flea markets and ebay, I gave up quickly: I was impatient, I was particular, I was determined. I decided to paint one myself.
Now, let’s be clear: I didn’t consider myself an artist at the time, but have always had a decent aesthetic eye. The decision to make the background of the piece abstract was an easy one, and the inspiration came quickly: the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. This scientific tenet defines limits on what one can know about different qualities of a particular particle; for example, if you know a lot about a particle’s momentum, then its position may be less clear.
Ok, not to nerd out, but in general I’m pretty excited about scientific theories and principles, and how human interactions resemble them. There’s something comforting about the certainty and predictability of mathematics and equations, and my notion, that all human behavior can be plotted out to resemble them, is a romantic (and probably naive) one. But it’s a concept that drives a lot of the artwork I make. I’ll leave it to the viewer to interpret how the Heisenberg principle could apply to interpersonal interaction.
And it’s a fun coincidence worth mentioning that this piece, which is a periodic table of elements, has a Breaking Bad parallel. Breaking Bad, to the uninitiated, is a television series about a chemistry teacher named Walter White who feels compelled to start manufacturing and selling methamphetamine. The show takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico (where I grew up), its opening credits feature a periodic table of elements, and the alias that Walter White chooses in a moment of haste is “Heisenberg”. I wish I could claim that any of this influenced me, but alas, I painted the piece years before the series even came out!
After the abstract background was complete, I used a paint pen to hand-letter the periodic table. I love how it turned out: rough and simple lettering superimposed over a sophisticated, abstract design. I titled it “The Enemy Within”, because I’m a big ol’ nerd, and I name all of my pieces after original series Star Trek episodes.
Ostensibly I made this piece for myself, but enjoyed the reactions people had to it so much, that eventually I started a series of paintings inspired by medical and scientific ephemera. After being encouraged by friends and family, I started to sell them on my Etsy shop. Check ’em out, I hope that you dig them!
This picture is ridiculous, but people tell me they’re fans of it.