anatomy

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Craft Science

A Scientifically Accurate Hand-Knit Sculpture of the Human Brain by Dr. Karen Norberg

In 2009, Psychiatrist Dr. Karen Norberg from the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts decided to create a fibrous doppelgänger of the human brain. Using different colored yarns she knit together the two-sided organ one and a half times its normal size, with a cerebellum and spinal cord attached at the end. Dr. Norberg told the Telegraph that the piece was a labor of love. For me, there were two humorous aspects,” she explained. “One was simply to undertake such a ridiculously complex, time consuming project for no practical reason. The second was the idea of making a somewhat mysterious and difficult object – a brain – out of a ‘cuddly,’ cheerful, familiar material like cotton yarn.”

Dr. Norberg created the individual parts of the brain, such as the brainstem and amygdala, before sewing the lightly colored pieces together in its final form. A comparison of the textile sculpture alongside scans from a real human brain can be seen in the image below. (via Women’s Art)

Art

Parted Ceramic Mouths and Clenched Hands Enliven Tea Sets by Ronit Baranga

Sculptor Ronit Baranga (previously here and here) produces figurative ceramic works that combine human characteristics with inanimate objects such as teacups, saucers, and plates. Open mouths are placed at the center of cups and pots, begging to sip the contents poured inside, while fingers mounted to the bottom of the pieces look as if they might carry the works across the table.

The Israel-based artist currently has a solo exhibition titled Tea Party at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne, Australia which closes September 30, 2018. Her work is also included in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine‘s curated exhibition Ephemeral at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco through October 6, 2018, and the group exhibition Beauties and the Beast at Galerie Klose in Essen, Germany opening September 28. You can see more of her anatomical ceramics on her website and Instagram.

Design

A New Virtual Reality Demo Allows Users to Explore the Inner Workings of a Friendly Feline

Leap Motion describes their newest virtual reality demo, Cat Explorer, as demonstrating “the transformative potential of VR and natural interaction in fields as diverse as education, training, healthcare, and entertainment.” The interactive program allows the user to explore the inner workings of a friendly cartoon feline. Coordinated with the motion of the user’s actual hand and based on a virtual setting, you can see the cat’s skin, muscles, organs, vascular system, and skeleton. The San Francisco-based VR company shares their projects on YouTube and Facebook.

Art Craft Photography Science

Self Portraits Embroidered With Images of Blood Vessels, Bones, and Muscle Tissue by Juana Gómez

Artist Juana Gómez turns her gaze inward in order to understand the larger systems that compose the outside world. She embroiders the bones, muscles, veins, and synapsis that lie below her skin onto self-portraits, tracing her biological structures as a way to translate the similar patterns found in nature and modern civilization.

“There is fundamental law that can be seen in the veins of a leaf, the course of rivers and their tributaries, the circuits of the central nervous system, the currents of the sea, and the routes of traffic on the Internet,” says Gómez in an artist statement. “Deciphering this common language, which connects the micro cosmos with the macro cosmos, the external and the interior world, allows us to distinguish a pattern that influences inert, biological, social and cultural systems.”

Gómez first photographs sections of her body—face, torso, hands, legs, feet—which she then prints onto loose linen or another similar fabric. Next, she embroiders onto her duplicated skin, stitching brightly colored thread over her tattooed body (an element which adds another layer of texture to her personal works). In addition to these embroidered self-portraits, Gómez has also created an in situ thread-based work titled Cultivo. You can see both methods of her practice on her website.

Art Illustration

Dramatic Anatomical Drawings Comprised of Complex Hatched Colors by WanJim Gim

Seoul-based artist WanJim Gim illustrates the form and gesture of the human body using complex hatched layers of color and dramatic lighting. He adds intrigue to poses that could be considered traditional figure drawing studies by adding abstracted lines and watercolor washes that integrate the fragmented body parts into a larger visual field. In an interview with Trending All Day, the artist describes his inspiration and process:

I’m interested in expressing body temperature and skin smell and am studying the relationship between color and energy (Qi) for my work… Currently I usually use oil pastel and colored pencils. They both have limited colors, so I need to overlap them to produce a color that I like. Even if I can’t express the color that I intend to make, I am satisfied with the exceptional effect coming from the imperfectness.

Gim studied animation in university, but began creating in his current style in earnest after coming across the work of painter and draftsman Lucian Freud. He shares his work on Instagram, as well as on his website.

Art

Textile Bodies Reveal Branched Systems of Veins, Flowers and Roots by Raija Jokinen

Finnish artist Raija Jokinen creates sculptural bodies out of flax which attempt to reveal the complicated relationship between the mind and body. Webs of flowers, veins, and roots cover her textile torsos, shape-shifting between plant and human forms. Jokinen invites the audience to get lost in these visual similarities, as she makes no distinction between whether the pieces are actually nerves or sprouting tree branches.

“It is fascinating how body-related details, such as skin, blood vessels, and nerve tracks resemble the forms of roots or branches, as well as many other organic things,” Jokinen told Colossal. “I am excited in their apparent similarity, infinite variation, and how these visual allegories can be found almost everywhere. These forms are optimal for the life-support functions, and maybe also for our mind.”

Jokinen compares her sculptural practice to painting, using handmade flax rather than paint. An upcoming solo exhibition of her fibrous sculptures opens March 14 at Galleria Uusi Kipinä and runs through April 8. You can see more of her body-based works on her website.

Art

100 Fiberglass and Resin Skulls Fill a Room at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne

Ron Mueck, an Australian artist known for his hyperrealistic figural sculptures, has created his largest work to date. His installation Mass contains 100 human skulls which are scattered and stacked throughout a gallery at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

The individual forms are created from fiberglass and resin, and when stood upright, rise to approximately three feet tall. In some areas of the installation piles reach five skulls in height, while in others visitors can approach individual works resting on the gallery’s floor. Placed amongst gilded paintings the works offer a somber reality, a morose peek into what physically relates each of us.

Mass opens December 15, 2017 as a part of the inaugural National Gallery of Victoria Triennial. Mueck is one of 100 international creatives that has contributed work to the exhibition which will run through April 18, 2018. (via Designboom)