Visualizing the Abstract - Conceptualizing
Visualizing the Abstract on display in the exhibition “Consilience” at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in December of 2021.
Understanding the nature of reality is the root of my curiosities and creative endeavors. Finding conceptual physics theories being discussed since the early 1900s was a shock to my perception of the world around me. Learning about “quantum strangeness”, fascinating theoretical debates between Einstein and Bohr, and topics that make up sci-fi movies being questioned to be true blew my mind. I’ve spent my days from first stumbling across these topics by watching videos and reading literature about conceptual physics. Inspired by cubist artists who depicted new scientific discoveries of their time on a two dimensional plane using familiar shapes and colors, I am trying to create a language of my own to depict ideas from quantum theory and conceptual physics. In this series I play with neon colors, dimensions and planes as well as abstracting the figure.
Calabi Yau Manifold
This shape is a Calabi-Yau Manifold, which is a mathematical concept that has been a help to visualize concepts of string theory. Einstein's string theory believed there were extra dimensions that we can't see. Compactification of dimensions could explain the existence of many undetectable dimensions, this shape explains that and helps visualize that. This is 2d cross section of this 6 dimensional shape. By painting the Calabi-Yau Manifold I am able to understand the folds and curves which helps me understand the concept. I am enjoying creating art to enhance my understanding of a complex subject.
20x24 inches
Acrylic on canvas
2021
Light as an Observer
This piece depicts a wave function collapsing to a point, which creates a particle. When a wave collapses it is due to an observer interacting with the system in a phenomenon called the Observer Effect. This concept is so interesting to me because we don’t know the span of what can or cannot be an observer to "collapse" a wave function. In this piece I am presenting light as interacting with this wave with its rays beaming down on a system leading to a particle being created. The shape below shows an abstract shadow of the particle, showing that the wave is not physical, just the particle.
24x36 inches
Acrylic on canvas
2021
Diving into the Higgs
In this piece I am portraying the analogy of the Higgs Boson and Higgs Field. Since Peter Higgs came up with the concept of a Higgs field in the 60s, many physicists accepted it as true and were waiting to find proof of it. After a particle accelerator at CERN was created, they found proof of it relatively quickly. The proof was a Higgs Boson. This is the force carrier of the Higgs Field. A particle is given mass by the interaction in the Higgs field by slowing it down. There was an analogy about this discovery of looking for a splash of water from a wave that you cannot see. The wave creates a splash from an excitation, so in this piece I had a figure which is part of the wave do a cannonball into itself to create bosons, as the splash. These images are the portrayal of the detection of the Boson in its particle path. They are on the border as well as in the frame of the field because they connect the field and the world that we can see. This concept invigorated my curiosity for life because the Higgs Boson was discovered in 2012, so much has happened since and so much will happen because of this modern discovery.
30x36 inches
Acrylic on canvas
2021
Schrödingers’ Cat and the Question
This piece depicts two interpretations of Shrödinger's cat thought experiment. The experiment includes a cat in a box with radioactive material. There are two options when someone opens the box and they are to observe the car either alive or dead. Until that observation the cat is in a super position of both alive and dead which is the center panel image. The right panel presents the Copenhagen interpretation, which describes when someone or something observes or interacts with the cat and interior of the box, it leaves the super position and through probability has an outcome of either alive or dead. The left panel depicts the Everett interpretation which explains that because there are two probabilities, two yous exist, one where you view a dead cat and one where you view an alive one. As crazy as it sounds the multiverse theory is very popular with theoretical physicists because the concept directly obeys the Shrödinger's equation. These interpretations show us how interesting our reality really is.
Trytich of 3 20x24 inch panels
Acrylic on Panel
2021