Louis Thompson’s work draws inspiration from the aesthetics of taxonomy, scientific research, and medical apparatus. He creates installations which explore these themes through sequences of objects in which mysterious life forms, or mathematical models, appear suspended in a richly-coloured medium. Thompson completed his Master’s degree at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2011 and has been invited to work and teach with glass artists both in the UK and abroad. He was the recipient of two prestigious awards in 2012, the Jerwood Makers Prize Commission and the Best Exhibit Prize at the British Glass Biennale. His work has been exhibited extensively at galleries in the UK, Europe, Japan and the USA and he has created installations for various museums and international exhibitions. Louis’ work is largely concept-based, taking an idea and exploring its every possibility by shaping and refining both technique and form. Inspired by an installation he made for the Sigmund Freud Museum in London, he began to take great interest in Freud’s writings on dream analysis, creating pieces that combine both scientifically precise apparatus with jars representing captured dreams or emotions. These collections display a sequential narrative; ‘It’s something that’s repeated but not repetitive – taking a form and twisting and distorting it in every way to show the diverse range of possibility of a single object.’In works he has used his own DNA profile as a starting point to investigate some of these themes. Each group of pieces represents a sequence or a set of DNA markers that contain a DNA helix specimen. It is all part of Louis’ desire to ensure that his works elicit a haptic experience, inviting the viewer to be ‘compelled to touch, to discover for themselves the reality of the art works.’