I created my art piece in goal of conveying the wave-particle duality of both the electron and light. The art piece, which I’ve named Look at what the stars made, has many abstract ideas and direct ideas. I’ve been able to establish these ideas as a result of learning about quantum chemistry. After the structures of classical science had been demolished by my education of quantum science, my brain went into thinking mode and started forming new ideas about the world and how we perceive it. My art work is the result of all this thinking.
My initial sketch had three heads combined together: two on the side and one in front. The two heads on the side each had their own brain, and the one in front had a brain which was the combination of the two. The brain in front would be observing the double-slit experiment; one of the brains on the side would view light as particles and the other head would view it as waves. The result was an abstract idea combined with a direct idea; the abstract idea being the perceptions of two minds combined to form one, enlightening the human race and the direct idea being the witnessing of the wave particle duality of the electron. I was planning to paint it to make life easier, but went against this thought, because I figured that the building of my idea would help convey the message in a much clearer fashion, after all, our world is 3D, not 2D.
After the building had begun, more ideas had started to arise with each added part, and that is how my work of art came to be.
There are many ideas in the art piece, but I will start with the explanation of the model found in the middle which is Young’s Double-Slit experiment. This experiment was a breath-taking discovery as it showed the world that the electron could either take on a particle characteristic and a wave characteristic depending on whether or not it was being observed. This is what the green face was observing. It has stars as eyes, because they represent how we are all made of stardust and our perception of the world is subjective, because we know such little about it. The stars are used to convey the message that people can see only what was meant to be seen. The green face is surprised by this experiment, because it witnesses the interference pattern of the electron. The electron, throughout classical science, had been perceived to be a particle. This part of the art piece involves the wave-particle duality of the electron.
The green face is also receiving sound waves from either side. It is hearing the different perceptions of observations which people have about light as well. On its left, there is a man who can see deflected particles of light off a slippery surface. These particles of light have different colours and are emitted from the sun. The sun is also made of various colours, representing its possession of the various colours in the light spectrum. The face on the left has its own brain with a face on top. I left a face on top to display to the viewers that we are not in full control of our minds and our minds are influenced by some greater being and even those around us. (This is my perception the world.) There is also a plastic square covering the man’s eye. The plastic can only be seen when closely observed. It is used to convey the message that he’s not seeing the whole picture of the characteristics of light. His eyes are half-shut as well, which also means that he can’t see the whole picture.
On the other side of the green face, there is a picture of the girl who is witnessing the wave quality of light. Like the guy on the other side, she has a brain, which is of different colour and she also has half-open eyes with a plastic covering.
The green face is hearing the information from these two and is trying to process this information in wide-eye recognition. Its mouth is also open revealing a silent gasp at the unbelievable discovery that the world cannot simply be viewed as black (particle) and white (wave), not even grey, but rather a more complicated perception with a multitude of colours, some of which we can’t even see. His brain which can be seen when viewing the art from the top is a combination of the two brains (the man and woman’s.) The green face’s brain is not even the same colour, because everyone has a much different view of the world, but it has been influenced by the people around it and the greater being. The green face is popping out at the viewers. This is because in the inside, if the flap of paper, representing its brain, is lifted, a miniature bucket can be seen. In this bucket I put a few blue marbles (particles) as well as some curly blue papers (waves) which demonstrate the fact that these ideas are not able to mix in our mind, since we can’t fully grasp the concept in our minds.
The green face is also not a “classically” drawn human face. I made it this way with flower petals as a nose, stars as eyes, silver teeth, etc, because it means that we can all have completely different views of the world even though at the moment, to each individual, it seems as if everyone views the world like we do. For example, we could have been born calling the colour red, red, but someone else could have been born calling the colour which we see as green, “red”. It is a very complicated idea that I’m trying to convey, but has been quietly sitting in my mind for ages.
The bottom of the piece is covered with cut up construction pieces. These have been purposely cut up, because I wanted to convey the idea to people that life is quite a puzzle and the pieces don’t always makes sense, nor do they always fit (one side being blue and the other being pink as well as some parts which weren’t completely covered up, meaning you can still see the wood.) The small areas which are not covered up are places which surround the components of the artwork. They are left not completely covered because it means that we’ve only discovered a minuscule part of life and there is so much more which we will never discover and a little which we eventually will as time goes by.
The project is also made at odd angles. I wanted to tell people that it is not enough to simply acknowledge that there are other direct perspectives, like left side and right side and front and back which you can view something at. There’s a multitude of perspectives at the craziest, oddest angles which no person can ever think of, because as human beings on earth with our own minds, we’re already presented with a subjective viewpoint of life.
There frame in the “front” is there to allow people to see one of perspectives you can have, but even by looking through that frame, you can choose at what angle you want to look at it. You can look smack-dab in the middle, in the corner, right at the bottom, etc. No two people will view the project the same, just as no two people will view science and life the same.
With the odd angles, there are pieces of the project which stick out. Some may wonder why I hadn’t just cut off the odd ends. This is because I couldn’t my piece of art on a gigantic base and put the actual built work on what part of the piece. The odd pieces represent the fact that there is so much more of life left to be found, or left to be never found.
The side with the star wrapping paper is there to tell people that we are all made of stardust and everything we know and will probably ever know is made of stardust. It is also there to say that we’re on the inside, much like an experiment of some larger being. We’re caged in with problems and our actions and reactions are being observed by whatever is out there. I also made sure to put it only on one side, because I think that whatever is watching us, if anything, may also have a subjective viewpoint. Since they know everything that still leaves them with a subjective view since they can’t be completely impartial to Earthly life. There is also a possibility that they can be completely objective, but I’d like to go with the more complicated perception where I think even the greater beings are subjective.
One may also have noticed the recurring colour of pink/red and blue/aqua. The girl’s face is on the blue striped background and is on the side with the blue ground. She even has a blue brain. The man on the other hand is completely the opposite. His life revolves around the pink colours. I used these colours to represent the once again subjective viewpoints which we have about life and more specifically, the largely discussed gender roles. No matter what is on the outside, it is the inside which matters. Though the man may seem a man on the outside, he may really feel like he is a woman, and vice-versa, but then this puts into question: what exactly is a man and what exactly is a woman in reality, if reality is not an illusion. This plays into the quantum world, because though the electron was thought to be a particle on the outside, when un-observed, it displays wave qualities. This is much like an illusion to me. Life is as much illusion as it is reality. It is all due to perception. The more I go on thinking about my artwork, the more ideas I can find, and the more confused I get about this thing we call life.
There is one stick with branches on the frame. It has stars on the branches which can be viewed as leaves. The branch is there to remind us that we are still on Earth and must not get too wrapped up in our heads and thoughts, because the Earth and humanity still needs some saving from the people who’ve made it their goal to cause suffering.
I’m hoping stimulate confusion in the minds of the people who view my artwork, but to those who observe the natural stick, I hope I remind them that we are still on Earth and that one thing we cannot change is pain and suffering. Though it may be fun to think about science and the world and the different perceptions, it is also important to remind ourselves that that humanity needs to save itself.