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David Shelton Gallery

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Jessica Halonen

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Statement

The use of plants for medicinal purposes dates back centuries, however the use of genetic modification in the 21st century has given plants and animals a new role in the production of drugs. This series of drawings and sculptures presented is part of an ongoing project that investigates the use of genetic modification in plants and animals in the pharmaceutical industry.

A processes known as ‘pharming' (combination of the words pharma and farming) introduces genes from one organism into another host organism in order to ‘grow' medicinal proteins. Staple food crops and livestock including corn, potatoes, cows and chickens are currently being genetically altered and raised for pharmaceutical purposes. In many cases, gene swapping takes place between two completely different species. The most well known example is the "spidergoat," a goat whose milk produces spider's silk that is harvested and made into surgical thread.

Through the "Target" drawings and "Sticky Ends" sculptures, my project aims to visually respond to the science involved in altering an organism's DNA and to engage in a dialogue with the ethical issues that surround this process. The abstract forms of the sculptures are inspired in part from chemical formulas and molecular geometry, present an ordered system transformed into a chaotic mess, a tangled double-helix for example.

Repetition, shape and color are constant principle elements in my work and important components of the gene splicing process. The materials I use respond to the manipulation of nature by combining organic substances with synthetic materials. The pastel palette used in the pharmaceutical industry influences my color choices.

Jessica Halonen received an MFA in Painting in 1999 from Washington University in Saint Louis and a BA from Kalamazoo College. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, notably at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Austin Museum of Art, Park Project, Los Angeles, University of Texas Dallas and San Antonio and Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, TCU. Her work is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and The Museum of Southeast Texas. From 2000-2001, she was a Core Fellow at the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and was recently an artist in residence at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. Halonen is an assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Trinity University. She lives and works in both Austin and San Antonio.