Pablo Garcia-Lopez, "Neuralink DIY"

In “Neuralink DIY,” artist and neuroscientist Pablo Garcia-Lopez creates silk sculptures and dense wall reliefs informed by histories of neuroscience, philosophy, ethics, and culture. About Pablo Garcia-Lopez Neuralink DIY Pablo Garcia-Lopez is a Spanish artist and neuroscientist based in New York. His art is informed by histories of neuroscience, philosophy, ethics, and culture and expressed as coded metaphors signifying those areas of study. He employs natural silk in the production of his sculptural work; noting that the material choice is in homage to the father of modern Neuroscience, Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Ramón y Cajal, an artist and pathologist, envisioned neurons as individual cells communicating across synapses, which he called “butterflies of the soul”. His discovery, depicted in exquisite drawings, transformed scientists’ understanding of the human nervous system and formed the bedrock upon which neuroscience is built. Silk, a by-product of organic metamorphosis, with references to luxury, ornamentation and human hair, is cast by Garcia-Lopez into sculptural parts or knotted and twisted into double helixes and rope-like structures to present dense wall reliefs. Seemingly born of an alien intelligence, and overabundant to the point of collapse, these works signal saltation, hopeful monsters and apocryphal visions. "Become an entrepreneur. Become the best version of yourself. Become transhuman! Hack your brain. Do it yourself. From trepanation to concussion, lobotomy to electroshock therapy, civilization has explored countless methods to enhance cognition, induce hallucinations, relax the mind, or alleviate emotional struggles. Creative. Unconventional. Circuit-bend your mind! Connect your amygdala to a chainsaw, your thalamic afferents to a vacuum cleaner, or your auditory cortex to a valve amplifier. Rewire your brain... or destroy it yourself!" —Pablo Garcia-Lopez Read more Toggle Prints Installation Sculpture Mixed media