My career as an artist began in 1965, with an accident in art school (WKS Hannover).
The curriculum in the material science class was a project of my choosing, in which I immersed a small painted copperplate in a vat of acid. After a couple of hours of waiting, and with no visible reaction happening to the plate, I decided it was ok to go for lunch. On my return I noticed some peculiar yellow clouds at the entrance to the classroom, and within minutes the entire department had to be evacuated (I learned much later that those yellow clouds were very toxic).
An emergency rescue by my teacher was also a lesson in the neutralizing effect of an alkalizing base solution. A potentially explosive runaway reaction had been narrowly averted.
On further examination; the situation had resulted in something that got my attention. The very hot reaction of the acid on the metal plate had created an interesting deep structure and gestalt. I had suddenly and unexpectedly entered a marriage-like relationship between metal and my imagination.
. . .
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” – Albert Einstein