STRAIGHT TALK
with Judith Modrak
By Julia Buntaine
Editor-in-Chief
that dendrites play in autism. It was a natural
next step to interpret in sculptural form what
neurons and their dendrites may look like
JB: First, I’d love to hear a bit about how science has when a person is young, old, anxious, or affectimpacted your life, and how you view your relation- ed by a particular condition. Without question,
ship to science as an artist, and individual.
the “Dendrites” series is a continuum of much
earlier work (Self-Portrait, Circe, and Dionysus)
JM: I was born with a curiosity about the
which probed the essence of identity from
natural world and a hardwired emotional senanatomical and spiritual perspectives. Undersitivity. These two traits made for a lively and
standing the natural world, and decoding our
adventurous childhood and continue to this
physiological and psychological worlds within
day. From the earliest age, I remember catchthe imprint of the larger historical period we
ing frogs and worms with my brother, excavat- find ourselves in, has been a source of artistic
ing caves made of dirt and leaves looking for
inspiration and interest to me for many years.
hidden treasures, rescuing abandoned dogs and
birds with broken wings, and drawing exceedJB: An underlying characteristic in much of your
ingly detailed Parameciums and other single
work is the exploration of landscapes, specifically
cell organisms in elementary school. While I
those of the psychological and neurological. How do
majored in art, my love of science continued in you view your role as an artist in this long-standing
college and I vividly recall dissecting small ani- tradition of inner-self portraiture in art history?
mals (which died of natural causes) in biology
and peering into the mysteries of blood and
JM: Throughout history, the artist has served
other cells through a microscope. As an adult,
as a reflection of their particular time from
I eagerly await the Tuesday New York Times sci- the snake goddesses found on Crete, to Remence section, read a number of science-based
brandt’s self-portraits, to Louise Bourgeois’
periodicals, attend science-themed lectures
spiders. I certainly view the artist as a visual
and exhibitions, and engage with nature when- anthropologist of their times and experiences.
ever I can.
I feel firmly planted in this tradition with my
body of work voicing personal and collective
Despite enormous strides being made to
concerns of the 21st century, while referencing
understand the human brain, including global
our shared historical past and artistic precurinitiatives, the brain still remains much of a
sors.
mystery. The seed for the “Dendrites” series
was planted in 2013 as a result of reading an arI am especially interested in modern psycholticle about advances in understanding the role ogy, myths of humanity, biology, and neuro-