Events

Image: Concatenation 03, 2017, Mixed media drawing on canvas including woodblock prints on rice paper, acrylic and markers, 48” X 108"

Location: Cafe
Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

"Continuum"

“My body is the source of all my memory. It remembers what I am, where I come from, where I am now, and where I am going. It carries encoded packets of information at the cellular and sub-microscopic level that continuously track its evolution from a unicellular microorganism to its current stage as a human being. It constantly processes these memories to generate new information that will be encoded as knowledge and passed on to the next generation.”

Continuum explores the process of physical and spiritual change and growth through continuous interactions, movement and synthesis. The dictionary defines continuum as a continuous extent, series, or whole, no part of which is noticeably different from its adjacent parts, although the ends or extremes of it are very different from each other.

Scientific research involves stepping into the unknown without fixed or definite answers. The abstract nature of the questions and the experimentation involved in research mirrors the process of creating art and becomes a metaphor for the experience of life. By mapping the structures and patterns as they transform and evolve, Guhapriya explores how changes at the microcosmic level lead us to visually and spiritually reflect on the macrocosm.

Gallery 1
Cultured Interactions: Evolving Landscape (2006-2018) focuses on a landscape made of genomic and neural structures that change and evolve through the four seasons. This site-specific installation is made up of mixed media drawings on Arches Reeves paper made of collaged wood block prints using oil on rice paper and Arches Reeves paper, gouache, acrylic and markers. Developed over the last twelve years, the installation is inspired by the experimental research carried out by scientists to study the genetic interactions and neurobiological processes involved in the development of severe mental illness.

Gallery 2
Cultured Interactions: Continuum (2014-2018) explores our evolution as a species inspired by the scientists who process huge amounts of data to find patterns and information in the complex genomic landscape. The series builds from one generation involving 12 pieces of data, sampled, cultured and extended as small mixed media drawings through the mapping of memories. The sequenced structures become more complex as they concatenate to form three large-scale triptychs that continue to evolve to form the next generation of medium-sized artworks.

Gallery 3
Synthesis (2009-2011) is a series of highly energetic large-scale paintings building layers of lines starting from the Hilbert curve. These works represent the genome as it unfolds and interacts with other complex structures, just as a scientific discovery unfolds through the collaborative research done by scientists.     

Born and brought up in India, Guhapriya Ranganathan (Gupi) had prior degrees in engineering and management before moving to the United States in 1995. She studied art at Simmons College, and received her MFA in painting and printmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2008. From 2009 to 2011, Gupi was the Broad Artist in Residence. She has exhibited and shared her work focusing on the intersection of art and science in galleries and forums in the US, China and India. Her work is represented in public and private collections. She currently works and lives in Wayland, Massachusetts.