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Week 1
December 17

Image 21
Category: HUMAN BIOLOGY AND HEALTH
Topic: 80. Anthropology and Global Health: Genes, Biology, and Culture

 



Angel of the West

Medium: stainless steel
Year Produced: 2008
Dimensions in inches (H x W x H): 144" x 144" x 48"

Angel of the West, commissioned as the signature piece of the new Scripps Research Institute’s campus in Jupiter (Fla.) is a large-scale sculpture based on the structure of the human immune system’s key molecule, the antibody. Like tiny guardian angels, legions of antibodies constantly protect us from ill and disease. The sculpture plays on the striking similarity of both proportion and function of the antibody molecule and the human body. My own representation of the antibody molecule surrounded by a 12’ diameter ring is evocative of Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man. My intention is my work will help reestablish the Renaissance notion that the natural sciences constitute an integral part of culture.

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

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