"Killer Bird Flu" SOLD at exhibition (signed limited edition prints available) Print

I have had the opportunity to live and work in some beautiful places around the world from Scotland to Quito to Colorado. I am originally from Ireland and currently live and work in the beautifully lush countryside of Wiltshire in the South West of England. I have been as mesmerised by the beauty of DNA as much as the places I have lived. I have a Ph.D in Viral Genetics and have been working on designing genome art as a hobby over the last decade. This began in 2003, when I was the winner of a Siemen's design competition for designing a novel range of DNA-inspired phone covers. I have been working on a creative process that combines representing the DNA sequence (genome) of a subject as a unique digital image. DNA is made up of 4 "bases" commonly represented by the letters A, T G and C. These are the fundamental building blocks of life. The building blocks of digital imagery are called pixels. In this process, I marry the two building blocks by representing each DNA base (letter) as individual colour pixel. I have also created work using individual shapes (rather than solely pixels) to represent the DNA sequence of the subject. "Pure drawing is an abstraction. Drawing and colour are not distinct, everything in nature is coloured." This wonderful quote is attributed to Paul Cezanne. I find it best sums up the essence of what it is I aspire to create. Everything living is made of DNA, which means everything has its own potential world of colour hidden away within its genome. My goal is to not only unlock this exciting world but to present it in a unique, informative and beautiful way. The aim of the work I create is to build , fun, visually interactive, informative, bright and colourful pieces of work that allow the observer to gently enter the world of genetics through art. Following on from an existing project representing the complete human genome using this process), I have literally gone back to the lab to create bespoke pieces from a subject's actual DNA. Interested parties contact me to arrange sending a sample to me (cheek swab), I then extract their DNA from that sample, amplify up a small fragment of it and sequence that. I then work with the subject to create an image that they feel represents who they are at a given moment in time, were the paints being used are literally their own DNA sequence. The "Killer Bird Flu [H5N1]" piece.