This series that explores “Tulipmania” and the virus that caused it. In collaboration with Bill Miller, a scientist
from Cornell University who researches disease in tulips, I was able to attain microscopic images of the virus
that caused “Tulipmania”. I created a linocut of this virus on mulberry paper and created a reductive technique
five-colour print of a tulip bulb on another piece of mulberry paper. The two prints are layered so that the virus
can be viewed behind the bulb. During tulipmania it was the goal of all people, not just tulip growers, to make the
virus repeat in another bulb so that they could become rich. Everyone of course believed it was more valuable
because it was rare and magical, a bulb planted as a yellow tulip could changed into a white and red striped one. 
A bulb with this type of virus could be traded for items as large as a canal house in Amsterdam. Since it was
a virus spread by aphids the possibility of repeating the virus was rare as was the chance of the bulb
reproducing offsets with the same genetic code. It performed the function of a lottery,
who knew who would become the next winner?

The Special One
Ink on Mulberry Paper
9 x 9 ", 22 x 22 cm

Daimon
Ink on Layered Mulberry Paper
9 x 9 ", 22 x 22 cm

Detail: Daimon
Ink on Layered Mulberry Paper

English Florist Tulip
Ink on Layered Mulberry Paper
12 x 15", 30 x 38 cm