Ruby: April 2009

4/25/09

Gregory Crewdson

More images: http://www.artnet.com/artist/4589/gregory-crewdson.html
Listen on NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5157819

4/20/09

Derek Henderson

http://www.derekhenderson.net/index.html

4/18/09

Thomas Doyle's Miniature Dioramas

Doyle's statement:

My work mines the debris of memory through the creation of intricate worlds sculpted in 1:43 scale and smaller. Often sealed under glass, the works depict the remnants of things past—whether major, transformational experiences, or the quieter moments that resonate loudly throughout a life. In much the way the mind recalls events through the fog of time, the works distort reality through a warped and dreamlike lens. The pieces’ radically reduced scales evoke feelings of omnipotence—as well as the visceral sensation of unbidden memory recall. Hovering above the glass, the viewer approaches these worlds as an all-seeing eye, looking down upon landscapes that dwarf and threaten the figures within. Conversely, the private intensity of moments rendered in such a small scale draws the viewer in, allowing for the intimacy one might feel peering into a museum display case or dollhouse. Though surrounded by chaos, hazard, and longing, the figures’ faces betray little emotion, inviting viewers to lose themselves in these crucibles—and in the jumble of feelings and memories they elicit. The glass itself contains and compresses the world within it, seeming to suspend time itself—with all its accompanying anguish, fear, and bliss. By sealing the works in this fashion, I hope to distill the debris of human experience down to single, fragile moments. Like blackboxes bobbing in the flotsam, these works wait for discovery, each an indelible record of human memory.

http://www.thomasdoyle.net/index.htm

J. Mayer H. Architects

http://www.jmayerh.de/home.htm

4/17/09

More Historical Anatomy - Spinal Cords

Chazal, Antoine Toussaint de, 1793-1854

Jacob, Nicolas Henri, 1781-1871

Kaltenhofer, Joel Paul, d. 1777

Lairesse, Gérard de, 1640-1711

Click images to enlarge.
From: http://link.library.utoronto.ca/anatomia/application/index.cfm

4/15/09

Andreas Gefeller

http://www.andreasgefeller.com/

4/14/09

Simon Roberts - Photographs of Russia

From his 'Motherland' series:
http://www.motherlandbook.com/

4/13/09

Artist gets an ear implanted on his arm

From the Guardian:

A man with three ears will appear at Edinburgh Napier University today to talk about his "extra" ear, which has been surgically implanted on to his forearm.

Australian performance artist Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, had the third ear created from cells in a lab in 2006. At the Edinburgh Science International Festival today, Stelarc will discuss his plans to install transmitters in his new ear, so people listen to what it is hearing online. He also hopes to grow a soft earlobe using his own stem cells.

The ear is made of human cartilage. Stelarc, who is visiting professor at Brunel University School of Arts, took 10 years to find a surgeon willing to perform the operation. He uses medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality and the internet in his work.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/apr/14/performance-artist-ear-impant

Tatjana Hallbaum

http://www.tatjanahallbaum.de/english/index.html

Anatomia Collection 1522-1867

The University of Toronto has an extensive collection of anatomy illustrations from 1522-1867. The above images were found browsing 'abnormalities'.

From the website:
Anatomia is a collection of illustrations of human anatomy which are contained within published books, but the texts themselves are not included. The anatomical illustrations chosen for inclusion are, for the most part, full page plates but significant illustrations within the text are also included, as well as the title pages to the books themselves. The site is structured on two interconnected levels - the book level and the plate level.
http://link.library.utoronto.ca/anatomia/application/index.cfm