Artist36: Greg Dunn

Neuroscientist and artist Greg Dunn marries two styles/forms that I pull a lot from in my own work. He is interested in traditional Japanese minimalist style of Sumi-e and bases much of the composition of his images on the principles of that school of art and thought. He recently got his doctorate in Neuroscience, a subject with equal importance in his work. He discusses on his website the visual similarities between the long, branching forms of neurons and the forms of the Asian art he pulls so heavily from.

Minimalism is the driving force behind Dunn's work. In an interview with Discover Magazine, he discusses the methods and ideas that drive his work. He blows the ink across the painted paper, using it as an allegory to the minimalist tendencies of nature. Dunn says, "Ink spreads because it wants to go in the direction of less resistance, and that's probably also the case of hen branches grow or neurons grow...the reason the technique works really well is because it's directly related to how neurons are actually behaving". He discusses how this tendency is found throughout nature across all sizes and forms.

This is a great example of why I'm drawn to minimalism....the idea is simple but profound. A basic observation, when you put the puzzle pieces together and begin to see the processes and properties common throughout nature, can be so much larger and more relevant. The expression of these ideas can be similarly basic, but the product and effect can be, once again, profound.