JUPITER, FL.-
A strikingly designed stainless steel sculpture that will be dedicated
to Richard A. Lerner, M.D., president of The Scripps Research
Institute, will be installed at the entrance to the main building on
the new Scripps Florida campus.
The 12-foot-high sculpture features an enormous ring surrounding a
fully realized model of a human antibody, an immune molecule that
recognizes and helps fight off the body's foreign invaders, such as
bacteria or viruses. Entitled “Angel of the West,” the sculpture was
created by Julian Voss-Andreae, a former physicist who now works as a
sculptor in Portland, Oregon.
The sculpture, donated anonymously by a Palm Beach County resident,
hails Lerner’s “vision, pioneering spirit, and perseverance” that
helped make the Scripps Florida campus a reality. Lerner, who became
president of Scripps Research in 1987, is well known scientifically for
his pioneering work with catalytic antibodies and combinatorial
antibody libraries. These advances have lead to new uses for
antibodies, including as human therapeutics.
The new campus, with some 350,000 square feet of laboratory and
office space, and the sculpture will be formally dedicated on February
26, 2009.
“I am honored and deeply moved by Julian Voss-Andreae’s work,”
Lerner said. “By using the structure of the human antibody, the
sculpture can be seen as a universal statement about the complexity and
beauty of human biology. The dedication should really be shared with
all the scientists at Scripps Florida who, through their own deep
commitment to biomedical research, are helping to eradicate disease and
alleviate human suffering.”
The artist, Julian Voss-Andreae, 38, was born in Hamburg, Germany
and studied physics at the Free University of Berlin and Edinburgh
University. As a graduate student at the University of Vienna, he was
part of a team that conducted ground-breaking experiments in quantum
mechanics in 1999. Voss-Andreae moved to the United States in 2000 and
graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2004 with a
B.F.A. in sculpture. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
Much of Voss-Andreae’s work is inspired by molecular structures.
“When I started thinking about a sculpture based on the human
antibody, I found a fascinating visual analogy between human
proportions, as illustrated in Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, and
the structure of an antibody,” Voss-Andreae said. “My sculpture plays
on the connection between Renaissance culture, symbolized by Leonardo’s
highly recognizable iconic drawing, and the antibody, the central
molecule of the immune system.”
The sculpture is called “Angel of the West” for a number of
reasons, he said: “The title references the monumental piece Angel of
the North by British sculptor Antony Gormley erected in Gateshead in
northeast England, while mine refers to Western medicine’s almost
miraculous promises of healing. Most importantly, the title makes clear
that antibodies are, in fact, like an enormous army of angels
constantly protecting us from sickness and disease.”
Voss-Andreae began design of the sculpture in mid-2005, and spent
much of 2006 developing the software that would translate details of
the antibody structure into complex cutting instructions for the
special grade stainless steel needed to complete the structure.
“The sculpture was built from 1,400 laser-cut pieces of
corrosion-resistant stainless steel. Constructing the sculpture, which
involved bending and welding each of the pieces and then grinding and
sanding them, was very labor intensive." Voss-Andreae said. "I began
assembly in 2007 and finished earlier this year.”
To accommodate the sculpture’s large size, the sculpture was
shipped from the artist’s Portland studio via a semi-tractor trailer
normally used to transport boats. The sculpture, which weighs
approximately 1500 pounds, measures 12' x 12' x 4' (3.70 m x 3.70 x
1.20 m) and will be visible from much of the Scripps Florida campus.
About The Scripps Research Institute - The Scripps Research
Institute is one of the world's largest independent, non-profit
biomedical research organizations, at the forefront of basic biomedical
science that seeks to comprehend the most fundamental processes of
life. Scripps Research is internationally recognized for its
discoveries in immunology, molecular and cellular biology, chemistry,
neurosciences, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and
synthetic vaccine development. Established in its current configuration
in 1961, it employs approximately 3,000 scientists, postdoctoral
fellows, scientific and other technicians, doctoral degree graduate
students, and administrative and technical support personnel. Scripps
Research is headquartered in La Jolla, California. It also includes
Scripps Florida, whose researchers focus on basic biomedical science,
drug discovery, and technology development. Currently operating from
temporary facilities in Jupiter, Scripps Florida will move to its
permanent campus by 2009.
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