Christopher Marley Bugs
Christoper Marley was on CBS Sunday Morning today talking about his bug specimens. His work consists of beautifully spread and framed specimens which are culled from rainforests. Apparently he has his own relationship with collectors who are constantly on the lookout for beautiful specimens. I particularly like his photographs of beetles which are compositions many different specimens — the diversity of form and color really highlights how absurd it is that these things are real.
It was nice that he made mention of something I frequently worry about — killing the bugs:
“The only way you can damage or really adversely affect an insect population is by destroying its habitat or destroying its host plant,” Marley said. “What we do is we go in and we cull a very few specimens. And that gives an economic incentive to people to preserve their habitat. They’re making a living off of the standing rainforest, instead of having to develop it to make a living. And so, you’re actually preserving the species.”
He writes more extensively about it here: http://www.formandpheromone.com/public_html/environmentaleffects.htm It’s a valid argument to be sure. But I’m still getting increasingly weirded out that my art involves killing something. I’ll get back to you about that….
Anyhow, here’s a photo of Marley’s work. If you google him it won’t be hard to find more — he’s everywhere. And while we do very different things, at the heart of both of them I think there is a shared awe of insects and we are both just trying to get people to take a closer look.
Bulbs
Remains Lighting has just moved its fabrication and design facility to a new building in Brooklyn, and is spending a lot of time, effort, and care in how to make their venture as green as possible in a very intelligent and researched way. Owner David Calligeros occasionally shares some of this research through lectures, such as the upcoming “Green Lighting: It’s Not Just the Bulb”. Kate Hoffman and I produced and shot this messed-up sputnik for the occasion.
And here’s the lit version that didn’t make the cut, but is pretty cool too:
Prettiest ants ever.
The New York Times published a story yesterday about Anna Dornaus’ work with social insects, specifically the Temnos ant. In order to follow each individual of the colony, she anesthetized each ant for long enough to paint each one of them with a unique pattern of dots. Alex Wild took the most beautiful photo of the most beautiful ants.
The painted ants are just the beginning — I think both Dornhaus and Wild are definitely worth a longer look. Here are their links, just in case they aren’t working in the above text:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/science/28prof.html?emc=eta1
Polaroids!
I am newly obsessed with my Polaroid Land Camera and its tendency for the negative (the peel-off part you’re supposed to throw away) to be much more beautiful than the photo (the part you’re supposed to keep). A few of my favorites from the last few weeks:
