Scientifically, the background represents several things as follows. The pencil marks on graph paper represent pharmacokinetic (PK) curves. Each row was drawn using a different hardness of pencil from 2H to 9B. The resulting shades of horizontal grey represent the nuanced control and stability that covalently bonding the inhibitor to a side chain affords relative to an inhibitor covalently bonded at the target oxygen sensing enzyme active site. When viewed from a distance the small PK curves give the illusion of wide bands.  This micro-to-macro impression represents the dynamic equilibrium that results from the movement of the inhibitor in and out of the active site. Artistically, three artists inspired the rendering of the background: Josef Albers, Agnes Martin and Alighiero Boetti. The foreground consists of an abstract representation of the inhibitor and a computer graphic of the protein to which it is bound. The circle represents movement. Initially the spokes of a wheel or fan inspired it. I also considered optical illusions of moving spirals. However, in the end I settled on a more abstract representation, referencing Sonia Delaunay’s Rhythm Colour no. 107, whose “rhythm” seems apt to capture the dynamic nature of the covalently bound inhibitor. 

Description coming soon