A large proportion of my art is based on manipulating chemicals, and those chemicals are found lurking in the cupboards and garages of the homes we live in and the places we work at.

My inquisitiveness about how certain chemicals can be structured together in visually appealing ways was how may art style came to be, but it also sparked further curiosity as to why the chemicals do what they do with each other. Now, I have a decent grasp of chemistry, but I never took the time to think about what it is that really goes into the daily items we use. So now I begin to curiously explore the inner workings of the products we use, my aim is to educate myself and others, simple as that. What happens as I find out more and more will be interesting to see.

Sadly, even after just a few hours of initial research, I will be finding a lot of information that will be cause for concern, but I hope to balance that with the many good things that we are surrounded with and how they can aid us. I do find it concerning that many of the chemical cocktails in our homes are poorly labeled, and even MSDS’s (material safety data sheets) for individual products can be very ambiguous about what is hiding in the packages we take home. I get the commercial confidentiality argument, but these are substances we breathe in, put on our skin, on our clothes, living surfaces, food surfaces etc We deserve more.

If you happen to be curious about a particular item, let me know and I will give it the Alchemist treatment.