Lewis Andrews

‘ATP’ brings attention to a vital process for all living things—the production of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP for short). Your cells must produce ATP. Cells require energy to carry out tasks within your body, all 30 Trillion of them.  ATP acts as an energy transfer molecule for each of your cells to complete tasks such as transporting proteins, cell division & muscle contraction.

 

If you did not produce ATP, you would die.

 

’ATP’ brings to light the production process of ATP through Aerobic respiration; a process requiring oxygen and producing carbon dioxide & water as waste molecules. The work displays the process across eight sections that act as chapters. Each of them focuses on a specific part of the production line to make ATP. When all the artworks come together, they form ’ATP’.

 

In Lewis’s previous artworks such as the Origins series & Carbon Drawings, the focus on understanding how we came into existence came from looking light-years out into the cosmos across billions of years. Within ’ATP’ the focus shifts to the opposite end of the scale and the present moment, zooming in on our bodies to attempt to find answers to questions like ‘How are we alive here and now?’

 

The process of producing ATP has turned into a story within the work. Similarly, previous artworks by Lewis told the stories of stars billions of years ago. However, the ’ATP’ story is constantly repeated every day, billions of times to keep you alive at this very moment.

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