I have been fascinated by the above three topics all my adult life. It is riveting to see how these three topics continue to converge. I am a big fan of Tauba Auerbach. She is a really clever artist, who brings fonts, architecture, word play and bright colors to communicate some great ideas.
Before I want to share some of her work, I wanted to add a short introduction to her background. I decided to give a test drive to AI to generate her intro on Open AI ChatGPT. I started by asking a simple question.” Who is Tauba Aurbach?” and here is what AI came up with:
Tauba Auerbach is a contemporary artist who works in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking. Born in 1981 in San Francisco, California, Auerbach received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2003 and her MFA from Yale University in 2006.
Auerbach is known for her exploration of the boundaries and limitations of visual perception, often using simple geometric forms and optical illusions to challenge the viewer’s understanding of space and form. Her work has been exhibited widely in galleries and museums around the world, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to her artistic practice, Auerbach is also the founder and publisher of Diablo magazine, a small press that publishes artist books and other printed matter.
Pretty nifty work by AI eh? Not as impressive as her work. One of her pieces that is fascinating to me is how with a set of tiny mutations, she turns a YES into a NO. I call it a Tauba Transition. Here is my crude representation of her beautiful work:
When I was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, my mind started to think in terms of these transitions as I struggled to answer the question of what my body is up to?
My Oncologist said there are these cells that are trying to create another couple of Pancreases within your Pancreas. Oh look, there are a couple pancreases being built in your liver too, the doctor was almost excited as he pointed to those two bright spots on my liver. This was metastasization at work. Doctors mentioned that because the cancer is metastasized, surgery is not an option but I need to go through the Chemotherapy cocktail of some very poisonous drugs.
Suddenly, Tauba Transition has a new meaning in my head.
- Cells doubling to make an organ for my body : A creation Process. Right?
- But then this uncontrolled creation process will kill me as there is no room for thousands of pancreases. Right?
- They need to pump poison in my body to kill these uncontrolled doubling cells to save my life :Poison to Save (not the next Bond Movie)
What a paradox?, Creation Kills, Poison Saves.
I am sure there is a Tauba Transition for that..
creation–>forming–>cast–> replica–>duplicate–> matched–>equal–> like–> similar–> close–>tight–> suffocating–> breathless –>dead
poison–>toxin–> venom–>hatred–> antipathy–> resistance–>fight–> defend–>protect–> save
