Powers of 10

I've always wanted to get better at drawing and so this term I decided to take a drawing class this term.  Its been kind of tedious but I did enjoy our final project.  The only directions we were given for this project was that it had to be at least 6 drawings of whatever you want, they just have to be tied together in some way.  I thought about this for a long time and decided to do powers of 10 based off of the 1977 video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

Here are my pictures from small to large:

(10^-13 ish)This was originally supposed to be a carbon atom, but I'm not sure if I got the number of protons and neutrons right....oh well

(10^-7) DNA wrapped around some histones, this is my attempt at being inside the nucleolus with all the genetic material floating around and the nuclear pores out in the distance.

(10^-4.5) the animal cell, this used to be one of my favorite geeky science things to draw.  I could name all the organelles I put in there but that would probably be a big digression....moving on

(10^0) this took me forever to do, especially his face.  Its almost tragic that I erased the part I worked the hardest on for privacy's sake, but that is the internet for you.

(10^5) All I can say is: thank you google earth =)

(10^7) Earth, it didn't turn out too badly

(10^13) I'm not sure I buy that this is 10^13, I think I misunderstood the video, but I dunno, it still works.

For the written component of this project I included the meaning of the works as a whole because I thought it added to it.  So here it is for your viewing pleasure.

The meaning of the work:

The ultimate meaning of my final project is the importance of perspective.  Once upon a time ago, after an event with held emotional weight for me, a friend told me…In the grand scheme of things, what does it really matter anyway?  This was an attempt to assuage my feelings using something that I value above many things, scientific fact and logic.  He is right in a way, if you take a difficult or painful situation and put it in perspective of the universe, it doesn’t really matter.  All we are, all the decisions we make, are just the result of billions upon trillions of atoms interacting with other atoms that over the unforgiving tread of time might well end up somewhere else in the universe.  This is all true, scientific fact, as elucidated by Isaac Newton in his law about the conservation of matter.  But, despite it being true, it is not the only true perspective.  If the only perspective considered is one of general scientific fact it can shield the ugly and evil while de-valuing all that is beautiful and good about the human condition.  It is why it is absolutely vital that in life, perspective of the present is considered.  Proper perspective of particular situation will stir the compassion and empathy that would otherwise be lost in the lens of science.  It is compassion and empathy that makes us unique as a species on this earth and is something that should be preserved. 

In the drawing of the people in regular scale, I used myself and a dear friend of mine.  Our situation is complex, to say the least.  There has been tension as well as affection and it has been very difficult to toe the line.  I drew us this way partially as expression of my feelings, but also as an expression of the central point of this work.  In the end, none of what we do with each other matters, but that doesn’t mean we should forget the present, and what it means to us.