Cocain

Original watercolour A4.

About the Artwork

These paintings explore the delicate dance between chemistry and memory. Each molecule is painted at the center, with birds and flowers surrounding it-symbols of memories that flutter in and out of reach. The birds carry the fleeting, fragile quality of a thought realled, while the flowers echo the organic, ever-shifting landscape of the mind. Together, they form a visual metaphor for how the brain translates molecular signals into lived experiences.

Cocaine (C17H21NO4) acts as a powerful amplifier in the brain, blocking the reuptake of dopamine and flooding neural circuits with signals of reward and salience. This surge sharpens attention and reinforces learning tied to immediate gratification, strengthening associations between actions and pleasurable outcomes. Memory under cocaine becomes biased toward these intense experiences, making them more prominent and persistent, while at the same time disrupting the formation of balanced, long-term memories and impairing flexible learning.