Featuring

Structural Solutions

Stained glass, copper tape, lead, vitreaux 160 Pebeo

6 x 4 x 7 in each

2022 - Longueuil, QC, Canada

Artist statement

Structural Solutions

"Structural Solutions" is an homage to the work by scientists around the world to defeat the pandemic of Covid-19. Each mask has been carefully crafted in coloured glass. They represent the fragility and glass-like balance between our species and the natural world and the fragile public health system that was never ready for an event of such proportions. I choose the mask to represent the public health system, the molecular representations of the problem and solutions concerning the virus to represent science, and the colours to represent sickness, emergency, and hope.

Virus

"Virus" is based on the fantastic illustration of David Goodsell. Goodsell is a molecular biologist who uses information from the international protein bank to illustrate proteins in the complex mediums they interact. This illustration uses dozens of different structures produced by hundreds of scientists worldwide. The unprecedented effort of hundreds of labs on the planet has allowed us to create vaccines and antivirals to fight Covid-19 in record time. Even when the pandemic has been devastating, in no other time science, medicine and public health, had moved and worked as fast as today.

Target

"Target" represents the gaussian volume representation of the Spike Protein that protrudes from the capsid of the SARS-CoV2 virus. This protein works as an anchor allowing the virus to dock in cells and get internalized to deliver the viral genetic material and use the infected cell machinery to produce a new virus. Identifying the spike protein was crucial for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vaccine

"Vaccine" is the last one of the series "Structural Solutions." It represents the final step, the creation of a vaccine based on the structural information that we have collected from the virus. The illustration covering the lavender opalescent glass is a gaussian volume representation of the looped RNA crystal that codes for the spike protein of SARS-Cov2, the virus that causes Covid19. Thanks to years of research, the RNA molecule can be safely injected into humans to produce artificial spike proteins. The virus-free spike protein will then trigger the immune response from the body to attack the foreign proteins. In the eventuality of actual viral infection, now the body will recall the shape of this part of the virus and attack immediately, preventing a severe illness.