Doctor gives clients a piece of their mind.
A sample Portrait of Your Mind: Frontal view of the brain showing current density vector lines colour coded to brain frequencies (the small white spheres are the positions of the electrode used to collect the brain signals).
Image/CEREBRAL DIAGNOSTICS
When artists look for inspiration, it's not often they seek vision in medical tests.
But Dr. Mark Doidge is hoping to turn the art world upside down with digital art that projects brain activity on a screen or a print. He said his company is the first in the world to offer this type of art form.
"The basic idea is it's a portrait of your mind," said the North York resident, who has been the director of the Toronto Travel Vaccine and Immunization Clinic at 810 Queen St. east of Broadview Avenue for 23 years.
"Most people think of a portrait as a portrait of your face. This is different. They're absolutely spectacular, very unique."
His business, called Portrait of Your Mind, makes personalized artistic portraits of brain activity.
To collect that activity, clients wear a special cap that collects their brain signals.
The technology is a new generation of electroencephalography or EEG, a non-invasive procedure that collects the brain's electrical activity through electrodes placed on the scalp, and a new software system called dynamic electrical cortical imaging or DECI.
DECI, developed by Doidge and Dr. Joseph Mocanu, produces three-dimensional electrical activity of the brain in real time.
Sounds pretty complicated.
But what clients are interested in are the vivid and beautiful three-dimensional brain movies that are produced, Doidge said. And every one is different because brain waves are as unique as fingerprints and DNA.
"We developed a new system to make brain movies. These are very different. These movies don't have a plot. They don't have a story. These movies are brain activity," Doidge said.
"Most people are dumbfounded to learn there is a whole electrical world inside them that has been going on before they were born and go until we die."
But really, do people honestly want their brain activity as art work?
Doidge thinks so.
"To me, art is mostly about beauty. It (digital brain art) is like a dance. The brain is full of these organized rhythms and they play out as this intricate dance," he said.
"Most people who see it are mesmerized. Most people can't take their eyes off it."
The DECI technology was first invented to be used for medical applications. But Doidge was struck by the 3D brain art captured by the technology.
"The whole project was initially a science project and it still is. But there was a moment where this just gelled (as art)," he said.
"We started to (make) colour-coded movies based on frequencies in the brain. When we did that, we were really surprised and delighted to see how beautiful the images are. At that point, I said 'Wow, this could be a new form of art'."
The brain art doesn't come cheap.
The sitting fee to have your brain activity recorded will set you back $600.
A still image or recording costs $600. A two-foot by three-foot print on archival paper costs $100.
Movies range from $2,500, which includes the sitting fee, computer and high-definition computer screen, to $5,000 for a more industrial art installation which also includes audio and captions.
Beyond his new art venture, Doidge, who lives near Sheppard Avenue and Bathurst Street, has a long medical background.
For example, his travel vaccine clinic provides the latest information and medical care for patients going on exotic trips.
In 1983, at the height of the Ethiopian famine, he founded a non-profit organization called Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief, which works to overcome poverty and build healthy communities in Africa. Doidge retired from the organization about 12 years ago.
He also co-founded the North Network, now known as the Ontario Telemedicine Network, which uses two-way video conferencing to care for patients in hospitals and health-care facilities across Ontario.
For more information about Doidge's 3D brain art, visit www.portraitofyourmind.com or call 647-352-5232.