BROWN, ROGAN | "CYTOKINESIS", HAND AND LASER CUT LAYERED PAPER SCULPTURE IN CUSTOM SHADOW BOX, 2019

BROWN, ROGAN

Cytokinesis, 2019

Hand and laser cut paper in custom shadow-box (47 x 46 inches).

Cytokinesis is a hand and laser cut paper sculpture which dramatizes the surreal beauty of an everyday biological process in the human body. 

Despite the sci-fi sounding title this sculpture is inspired by one of the most common, quotidian processes in nature, namely mitosis or cell division. At any given moment millions of cells in our bodies are dividing and multiplying in order to replenish and maintain our skin, hair, intestine or bodily organs. Cytokinesis is the final, climactic stage of mitosis when the cell wall ruptures and splits in two to form identical daughter cells. This sculpture attempts to freeze that ultimate moment of transformation and becoming.

Of course we all learn about cell division in high school but those of us that do not go on to become scientists tend to forget it or simply take it for granted. And yet revisited and viewed from the perspective of the artist’s imagination we can perhaps better appreciate the wonder of this strange, beautiful and dramatic process.