Abstract: It is with great happiness that I present to you the raison d’être for the art collection “Flowers for Italfarmaco”, specially made for the R&D lab offices of the company in Via dei Lavoratori 54, 20092 Cinisello Balsamo MI, Italy. Inspired by biology, the collection is tailored to the scientist/technician/accountant working for Italfarmaco, looking to provide a quiet yet passionate backdrop for his day at the office. Great care has been given to fit the art on the walls with the vision of the Creative Director of a modern, open-plan office space that supports the employees of Italfarmaco in their everyday work. First, I will give the background themes running across the collection. Then, I will present the artworks one by one. Last, I will give a description as to the how and why they were designed and placed as such in the office and cafeteria.
Introduction: Bridging art and science is the express purpose of my work as an artist. I feel that the themes explored by science are of extreme interest to contemporary art. Artists cherish new perspectives into the human condition. Likewise, scientists want to celebrate their change in understanding of our cosmos, and are delighted to see this depicted in art. Yet often neither the dedicated scientist nor the artist has the aptitude or time to understand each-others work. I have spent many years as a highly trained scientist. I have performed MSc, PhD and PostDoc level work in the areas of Theoretical Biology, Bioinformatics, Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Mathematical Morphogenesis and others, in many highly performing labs across Europe. During this time, artists, looking to understand contemporary biology as to inform their art, approached the wet and dry labs I worked in. Collaboration in most cases was difficult to bear fruits. At the same time, I felt constantly the urge to express, using art and technology, principles that arise as important in the scientific endeavour to understand Life, and have been formally painting for decades. That is why I strived to produce art and collaborate with artists throughout my academic career and decided to venture into art myself as a professional the last 7 years. Creating this collection of works for Italfarmaco has been a fantastic opportunity to support, in my way, the important work done by Life Sciences professionals, something I always wanted to do.
There are many interconnected themes I feel need to be explored by art, as science uncovers them in all their glory. Central among them is Biological Patterning and Morphogenesis: how organisms use simple mathematics, sometimes encoded in molecular interactions, to sculpt themselves into the optimal body plan, for example how plants produce their phyllotaxis [1], how simple unicellular organisms coalesce into a multicellular fruiting body [2] and how animals make their striking coloration patterns [3], a topic of enquiry founded by no other by the brilliant Alan Turing [4]. He is one of the founding fathers of the next theme I need to discuss: Turing completeness in living systems, the idea that computation, and indeed Universal computation, is present and thriving in systems as small as the DNA transcription network of a cell [5]. On the next important theme: evolution and the Tree of Life, the reality of every living cell being connected to every other, when considering the 4D space-time, forming a large heuristic tree where Life explores the very essence of being [6], and what can be made by increasingly complex molecules. The second to last theme I will make explicit is one that is dear to my heart, as I am one of the founding members of [7]. That is the idea that life is quantifiable by means of measuring the mutual information-complexity density in all orders of scale bellow the sample we look at. To put simply, evolution pressures life to accumulate information, and so advanced living systems increase their complexity by accumulating copies of as many different space-time objects as possible in as small space as possible. The concept of Biodiversity can be thus found to be generalizable and to point to the notion that life could be thought of as a 6th state of matter, the “complexity state”. Assembly Theory [8] has recently validated this approach to understanding Life. The very last theme is the theme of Symbiosis: Most, if not all species engage in it [9], and humans have perfected in a scale never before seen.
I will explore the themes above under the light of Pharmacopoesis, as I indeed make this collection of artworks to celebrate Italfarmaco and its scientists. Pharmacopoesis will be seen as both a rebellion as well as deep acknowledgement of Symbiosis in the human condition. The making of a pharmaco will be interpreted as an increase of the information density of the human biosphere. Plants will have a dual role in our semiology, both as the original procurers of pharmaca for humanity, our symbiotic partners often domesticated for their pharmacological services, as well as topological indicators of the Tree of Life and our connectedness to all other genomes on our planet. I shall celebrate the complexity of drug discovery by indicating the information processes that exist in all orders of scale in the human body, to highlight the Herculean as well as Promethean act of making a simple cure for any of the often multifaceted diseases we humans have to fight against. Lastly I will gaze in awe at the often transcendental nature of our world as discovered by Life Sciences, and hope for a future where peace, love, prosperity and respect for our mother biome is secure.
All these ideas posited above will not be allowed to dominate the artworks. They merely occupy the subconscious while the artwork is created, and artistic freedom is warranted. I want to avoid the artworks being didactic, or conciseness to seep in to the work and loose alternate meaning. In most cases, I want to give to the viewer a clear, yet new, vision for Biology, without imposing it.
Artistic Results:
- “Infinite triangular lattices” triptych, acrylics on canvases, 150x100cm x 3
This is the flagship artwork of the collection, as it is the largest and visible from most of the office space. The three pieces are connected by the underlying triangular (otherwise known as hexagonal) lattice used to make the space depicted.
- “Concave Green”
In this piece grasses are planted in a regular triangular lattice where perspective is inverted (the horizon is at the bottom, as in, points of origin for each plant converge at the bottom), yet the plants adhere to regular positioning (horizon at the top, bottom plants overlay, are closer than the top). The intention is to perplex the viewer and to “clean his palate” as to what to expect from space itself, the same way that theories of gravitational and quantum spaces have not reached any concise understanding of a base fabric of reality. Plants of the same species are arranged in what John Stevens Henslow would consider formal: variation across space, the root of speciation. Small segmented animals are hidden in the bush.
b. “Nick and Dimitra’s fractal, alternate growth”
In this deceptively simple piece, space is a triangular lattice that propagates itself to infinity. For more information, please see my relevant mathematical article in my Antithesis discussing infinite Bravais lattices. Bellow you can find how the tree in this painting is made: The node at the base of the tree “explores” space by creating with lines two new points at the center of two of the the triangles it is part of:
We have connected this spatial exploration with the exploration of form: the last lines of the tree are exploring the genetic space of simple mathematical forms. The main, successful in terms of evolved form, trunk of the tree has found the Lorentz attractor and variates, in an apparent effort to surpass the evolutionary medium it comes from:
c. “Searching for the red metabolite”
Here we return to an ordinary triangular lattice space, with the horizon at the top, to provide balance to the two accompanying pieces. Speciation has occurred, plant form is familiar, and the evolution of complex metabolic networks is considered. An ant-like creature can be seen exploring, as if looking to find the right plant to harvest.
2. “Stipagrostis psychoflora” triptych, acrylics on canvases, 120x90cm x 3:
Made for the cafeteria, this triptych depicts grasses of the genus Stipagrostis with insets of individual micrographic paintings in each of the flowers. Each micro-painting is unique. Nesting of artworks, the need of close inspection and “Turing completeness” of discovered micro-paintings speaks to the act of microscopy and discovery of new worlds in Biology and Psychology.
a. “Kusama’s heart on a Green field of youth”
We can discuss the two micro-paintings closer to the viewer to indicate intentions: There is a heart painted in the style of Yayoi Kusama that celebrates her life and contribution to art and philosophy. The words “imperfect” and “PERFECT” can be read in the surrounding lattice world and the heart lattice respectively. In the neighbouring micro-painting, a pair of philosophers/strings discuss a mathematical object of propagating circles (see Chapter 2 of my Antithesis). A card of pills and a Violin bow are hanging on the walls.
b. “The eye of Horus on the White field of spirit”
This piece has warm white tones of multiple complementary hues, intended to challenge the eye. Small flowers fixate the eye to cause Troxler’s fading and further guide the eye to a place of light. Two indicative micro-paintings from this piece are a sagittal section of the brain painted in the style of Wassily Kandinsky, and the Eye of Horus floating above the restored Great Pyramid of Giza, both to celebrate apparent knowledge of the ancient Egyptians of brain anatomy and correspondence of brain areas to the 5 senses [10].
c. “Morphogenesis on the Red field of harmony”
Three indicative micro-paintings from this piece can be described. The first is a turquoise branching form, grown, and experimented with, by me, in a Reaction-Diffusion simulation (see here an online example of this system) with radial change in parameters, with the addition of a U-skate at the bottom. The second is plant-like forms, painted in the style of Paul Klee, growing with variable “phyllotaxis”. The last is a signature piece for me, a sailfish spearing a fish.
By inviting the viewer to come closer and inspect the inset new worlds, the triptych in the cafeteria alludes to the act of microscopy and the need to have no preconceptions in order to understand biology. Also, by presenting many flowers with different inner worlds together placed in fields, I aim for this work to mirror the social nature of the cafeteria and to celebrate interesting people sitting down together to have lunch.
3. “Marry me midnight” triptych, acrylics on canvases, 260x100cm total
Made to accompany office employees in their daily tasks, great care has been taken to match the color of this artwork to the dividers of the desks. This piece, part of the collection of paintings in my signature style, blends a perceived “sky” to a “ground” by bringing both in a simpler space in the last painting. My regular flower figures are placed intentionally on background ones that seem to live on a different plane, to evoke continuity and inheritance. The flowers are bend as to indicate a breeze and an intention to communicate.
The third inset painting from the left is of particular importance for me, as it depicts a tall tree that has been cut from the base in order to make a sailboat to explore the sea, a theme I was painting for many years in the past to convey how important it is to overcome the limitations imposed by evolution on the human mind, in order to properly explore the truth of the human condition and the material universe we live in. The tall tree transforms itself into a sailing boat.
4. “The Selfie Committee visits Italfarmaco”, paper collage/acrylics on canvases, 240×100 cm total
This is a complex, multi-layered piece. The background is painted in the style of Mark Rothko and alludes intentionally to “Italfarmaco Green” and to the signature Red tiles of the via dei Lavoratorio exterior façade. In this alluded space, I have placed prints of the original “Selfies”, self-portraits of famous artists, around a warped blue table/whirl. The artists are presumed to be in a conversation with the viewer, as to give feedback on what the viewer has submitted for appraisal. The artists explicitly refer to another work, a “meta-work” if you like, mentioned to be a painting containing a fantastical tree. The tree’s branches are mentioned to resemble, each, the form of a different plant lineage, placed on the correct phylogenetic topology, on the tree itself. There is discussion on the concepts behind this as well. This fantastical genetically engineered tree is mentioned to hold in its genome all the metabolic networks needed to create all essential active pharmaceutical ingredients of humanity. The artwork is designed for the locker and waiting area of the office, and I invite the visitors to place post-it notes on the speech bubbles, to change what the famous artists say.
5. “The Scale Dial” septemptych, acrylics on 7 canvases, approx. 5.4m x 1m total
This artwork consists of 7 canvases, each depicting, using abstraction and simplification, repeated forms from different spatial scales. This piece refers to biodiversity density, the Tamvakis metric [7] and Assembly Theory [8], showcasing how life strives to conquer increasingly larger spatial scales through the invention of repeatable complex form. This piece was enriched during its research phase by interviewing Prof. Lee Cronin, co-founder of Assembly Theory.
From left to right, I considered repeated structures in different orders of scale, from 10-9±1 to 109±1 meters, with the human scale of 1m in the middle. The structures I aimed to depict are:
- macromolecules,
- Cells and their genome,
- different orders of the tree of Life (plants, fungi etc.)
- Language and civilization,
- large scale ecosystems and the blending thereof
- Cities-Countries and Fields,
- an Earth and a sun-like rectangle
In each canvas repeated structures are denoted using red circles with white fill, placed at the ends of the major axis going through the repeated structures. This is to indicate life achieving information complexity density (Tamvakis metric [7]), growing to inhabit larger spatial scales. Complex profiles of the T metric across scales are explored, as well as the tapering off at the larger scales, where invention is needed as we go out to the cosmos.
In the central canvas, the sentence “εὖ ἀεί” is juxtaposed to “εὔ ἐπί”. The first sentence loosely translates from Greek as “well/good, always” and the second sentence was meant to imply “εὕρηκα (Eureka!), on top”. The two sentences were chosen to be similar yet not identical in their spelling, so as to imply the similarity of language expanding its meaning to the copying and diversification of other life modalities, like the DNA. At the same time the sentences wish to the viewer for him to be always in a good/healthy state as well as a productive/build-on-top state.
6. “False analogies 2” triptych, acrylics on 3 canvases, approx. 2.6m x 1m total
In this triptych I again visit different spatial scales to explore molecular – cellular –organismal structures and processes familiar to the biologist – pharmacologist. The processes are chosen specifically to resemble each other, be analogous in an abstract way, yet be distinct. We consider two processes-structures per spatial scale, and invite the viewer to contemplate on the similarities they all bear between them.
For the first, “green” canvas, in the yellow inset field, we depict DNA wrapped around a nucleosome, surrounded by abstract nucleases and transcriptional complex components. In the blue inset field we consider protein folding, chaperones, and “molecular keys”, aiming to depict informational similarities between both inset fields:
Proceeding to the “white” second canvas, we explore the cellular scale. The nucleus of a plant cell in the yellow inset field communicates with the corner of the cell in the blue inset field via vesicle transport along the cytoskeleton. The corners of cells, known the last decade to be organizing centers of plant cell to cell communication (see SOSEKI proteins) are juxtaposed with the known ruler of the cell, the nucleus.
In the last painting, called “rooster call“, I considered the brain and the heart, and layered the depiction of the two by intersecting the following question in the design: Is the regular call of the rooster a process more akin to human language or the palpitation of the heart?
7. “1 key”, acrylics on canvas, 150cm x 50cm
In this piece I visit my signature style of a Stipagrostis flower with inset micro-painting, but for only one “portrait” flower. I made two flowers on the same undulating field, each on its own canvas. One of them was chosen by the Creative Director to serve as the key to the Italfarmaco collection of paintings. The color red was purposefully matched to the office inner garden tile façade, and the style of the field to “marry me midnight” triptych, both visible behind it. The flower’s inset makes apparent a human face, in order to give another layer of interpretation to all the flowers in my oeuvre, that of particular personalities and their thought-spaces, hence the name “1 key”. The portrait chosen follows a simplified Picasso style, but the form resembles a growing seedling.
Discussion: Did we manage what we set out to do? I did not shy away from colour, as we intended to provide a contrast with the modern white office space, so this intent was met. I am equally happy with complexity. The artworks in macro-view are not particularly complex, with the exception of the Selfie Committee. Thus one can work without unprovoked thought intrusions from their presence. The artworks invite you in for a closer look, but will also accompany you during serious work without demanding attention. This I believe is indeed true for the “Infinite triangular lattices” (big one) and “Marry me Midnight” (blue one) which are visible from most of the office desks. On the other hand, “False Analogies 2” and “1 key” do make a statement of intent by exposing more complex Biology, and open up more to the viewers with their larger insets, as they need to do in their position facing the entrance. “Stipagrostis psychoflora” is also contrasting the space it occupies (the cafeteria), by having many more flowers interacting together, in large different groups, and gives many views to interested parties with its 22 unique flower micro-paintings.
Thematically, the paintings are designed to work together to align the subconscious thought of the viewer to the elementary questions guiding our quest for an understanding of Biology, and then Pharmacology. What is space? How is space used to map a Biological process we seek to understand? This is contemplated by “Infinite triangular lattices”, where the same lattice maps variation, speciation, molecules, parameters, genomes and phenomes, and wishes us of simple understanding of a complex world. What is Life? How does Life evolve? Can we measure it? This is contemplated by “The Scale Dial”, where living beings aim for reaching the heavens by infusing increasingly larger spatial scales with self-invented meaning. What is human Life? What do I need to understand to then make a successful medicine? This is jointly contemplated by “False analogies 2” as well as all my signature paintings with flowers. They point to a reality of processes spanning from the molecular to the psychological, with feedbacks as well as freedoms, and wish for all discoveries to be at the benefit of humanity. Every human is unique and complex, manifesting unique personality, but discoveries on our basic physiology and psychology can help us all. How do I stay healthy and active as a scientist? How do I contribute to my company and Pharmacology in general? It is well known that healthy scientists retain a child-like curiosity, playfulness and creativity. This is supported by “The Selfie Committee”, where the famous artists come to help you train you in all these aspects, as well as discuss deep concepts freely. In general, the same aspects can be witnessed in the many imperfections, simplicities, and exploratory mistakes in all the paintings. To be a Scientist is to be a constant explorer, and this is depicted in the works. Why should I care about it all? Why endure the possible stress of a high-paced modern workplace? “Marry me Midnight” provides a view to the human condition both simple and transcendental, where individuality is warranted but the threads of purpose pass through the generations, and wishes for balance and success in everything you do, including work. Is the last paragraph wishful thinking? Perhaps, but it is important that the attempt is made.
To conclude, these 7 artworks hope to serve the creative vision for the new office space by connecting what adorns the walls to what I perceive is the one of the fundamental values of Italfarmaco, supporting humanity’s Health by expanding our understanding of Biology.
References:
- Jönsson, H., Heisler, M. G., Shapiro, B. E., Meyerowitz, E. M., & Mjolsness, E. (2006). An auxin-driven polarized transport model for phyllotaxis. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 103(5), 1633-1638.
- Marée, A. F., Grieneisen, V. A., & Hogeweg, P. (2007). The Cellular Potts Model and biophysical properties of cells, tissues and morphogenesis. Single-cell-based models in biology and medicine, 107-136.
- Kondo, S. (2009). How animals get their skin patterns: fish pigment pattern as a live Turing wave. Systems Biology: The Challenge of Complexity, 37-46.
- Turing, A. (1952). The chemical basis of morphogenesis (1952). B Jack Copeland, 519.
- Al-Hashimi, H. M. (2023). Turing, von Neumann, and the computational architecture of biological machines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(25), e2220022120.
- Mindell, D. P. (2013). The tree of life: metaphor, model, and heuristic device. Systematic biology, 62(3), 479-489.
- Tamvakis, I. (2018). Quantifying Life.
- Sharma, A., Czégel, D., Lachmann, M., Kempes, C. P., Walker, S. I., & Cronin, L. (2023). Assembly theory explains and quantifies selection and evolution. Nature, 622(7982), 321-328.
- Margulis, L. (2012). Lynn Margulis: The life and legacy of a scientific rebel. Chelsea Green Publishing.
- ReFaey, K., Quinones, G. C., Clifton, W., Tripathi, S., & Quiñones-Hinojosa, A. (2019). The eye of horus: The connection between art, medicine, and mythology in ancient Egypt. Cureus, 11(5).
Dr. Ioannis Tamvakis
10/2/2025