Hunter Pauker Ph.D

Artist/Scientist

Hi, I'm Hunter (b. 1995), an artist and scientist with an interest in the many facets that intersect both these fields, but primarily the current and historic aesthetics of the scientific sphere, and the use of further devleopment of cutting edge sceintific techniques in producing contemporary art.

Everything you see on this site, including the site itself, is made start to finish with one set of hands (with support from friends and loved ones).

The cost of computation continues to decrease, and advances in computational chemistry have increased accuracy in predicting chemical behavior. Although there is no replacement for a wet lab, computational chemistry is relatively inexpensive for understanding complex chemical systems. While there is great potential for application in the chemistry I have studied, the primary motivation for my scientific research has been to disseminate the use of computational chemistry by developing structures and methods for exploring chemical systems in a concise, methodical, and affordable way. My scientific research has focused on developing methods to learn about and optimize the properties and behavior of families of similar catalysts. Using several families of organnometallic catalysts and the reactions they catalyze as case studies, the spectrum of behaviors of these catalysts are realized by using machine learning and regression techniques to analyze data derived from various computational chemistry calculations.

Over 13 years my practice has evolved to focus on the creation, distortion, enhancement, and abstraction of ceramic vessels with the aid of surfboard making materials (polymer resins, foams, wood, and fiberglass). Combining both of these materials allows me to produce precarious, gestural, living breathing vessels that would otherwise be unachievable without either medium. Making pottery with purified synthetic polymer resins and glass-infused fabric from my local surf shop, and EPS foam scavenged from the dumpster makes me feel like I’m a caveman living in the future. The practice of combining ceramic, a medium that lasts longer than any other, with plastic, a medium that changes and degrades relatively quickly but whose decayed form persists in the Earth much longer, fulfills a primal instinct of creation while bringing into question the longevity and lasting impact of the vessels I create. This underscores the human inability to comprehend the persistence of time, and how our lives are a momentary flicker in this universe. In my most recent body of work the objects I have created still resemble a pot, and as I continue my practice I see my work straying more into the abstract.

Bird Rock
San Diego, CA 92037
email: hpauker@uci.edu
phone: +1 (619) 985-1429