Piece description from the artist
"Music of the Spheres" is a visual comment on some of the experiments happening right now at CERN, the search for the Higgs, and the possible End-of-Physics-as-we-know-it. The phrase “Music of the Spheres” describes early cosmological ideas where the stars in the sky were believed to be point embedded in transparent spheres revolving around the earth. Over the years observers and theorists kept adding to the complex movements and layers of these “spheres”, creating a cacophony of adjustments to make the theory fit observed reality. The heliocentric Copernican view replaced the Music of the Spheres with a different view of the Solar System, then the Galaxy and universe, allowing modern Cosmology to emerge. In the present we can see a growing noise of particles – a veritable sub-atomic zoo – describing the basic building blocks of the Universe. Will we see a new unifying Theory, a new Music in the Spheres?Created in layers. Dripped and brushed paint thinned with media was used to create loose washes of color, then washing with turpentine thinned paint removed some of the paint from the first layer, but added additional tints and concentrated the pigment around the edges of dripped rivulets. Glazing was used to subtly enrich the color in some areas. Finally the geometric patterns were painted in, using motifs that reference both the background textures and cross sections of a typical particle ring accelerator.
There are subtle active aspects to the construction of “Music of the Spheres” that impart a changeable nature to the image. In many areas, the geometric patterns begin as contrasting patterns of line, then shade into hues matching the background. In the original (but not in the photo) these patterns were painted using different media to thin the paint, making it more matte than the painting’s background. When viewed at an angle, these subtle patterns become more pronounced. Different pigment combinations were used to approximate the same range of colors in the background washes and foreground lines. This approach to color matching creates subtle metameric effects, where the contrast changes depending on the light hitting the painting.
Dr. Regina Valluzzi has an extensive scientific background in nanotechnology and biophysics. She has been a scientist in the chemical industry, a green chemistry researcher, a research professor at the engineering school at Tufts, a start-up founder engaged in technology commercialization, and a start-up and commercialization consultant.
Even during periods of intense activity as a scientist, Dr. Valluzzi has always held a strong interest in the visual arts and in visual information. While she majored in Materials Science at MIT, she also obtained a second degree in music and a minor in visual studies. Visual arts have managed to permeate her technical work; during her Ph.D in Polymer Science and Engineering at UMass Amherst, she completed a thesis that required advanced electron microscopy, image analysis, and theoretical data modeling. These experiences provided the visual insight and information that now influences much of her artwork.
Dr. Valluzzi’s work has been included in private collections across the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai and Malta, and in the corporate collection of "Seyfarth Shaw" Boston law offices around Boston. She has a selection of pieces on loan to the MIT Materials Science and Engineering Department as indoor public art. Her accomplishments include having published thirty articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, having made several scientific patents, having been a subject matter expert for an encyclopedia chapter, and having been invited to speak at science talks across the US, Europe, and Japan.
Her newsletter is a good source of ongoing information: http://eepurl.com/daiLQ
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