Art and Science converged at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on February 12, for an auction of artworks inspired by Garvan scientists. The proceeds of the auction, over $50 000, will help support our work.

Every year at Garvan, researchers are encouraged to draw a different kind of inspiration from their work by creating an image, literally or loosely based on their work, to enter into the annual ‘Science as Art’ competition.

In 2005, Garvan’s Research Foundation had the idea to take this competition to another level, and at the same time raise much-needed funds for research. Through Australian art curator Paul Sumner, various Sydney art luminaries were approached to judge the competition. Subsequently, the Sherman and Roslyn Oxley9 art galleries were asked to identify five artists who would be interested in creating a science-inspired work that could be auctioned.

The chosen artists, Janet Laurence, Guan Wei, Lindy Lee, Julie Rrap and Robyn Backen were introduced to Garvan and randomly paired with one of the Garvan winners. They were given complete artistic license to produce their personal response to these sources of inspiration.

Over 250 people attended the auction, which was preceded by a panel discussion moderated by well-known arts reviewer, Andrea Stretton. Panelists discussed the misty zone where science becomes an art and intuition guides research.