Wellness

DEADLY BEAUTY NOW

Courtesy of Luke Jerram. Glass Microbiology.

BEAUTIFUL PATHOGENS -- LUKE JERRAM

We argue that there is beauty in everything, depending on how you look at it. It may require closer inspection or deeper investigation or a different angle… but somewhere, somehow, something is beautiful wherever you choose to focus.

Pathogens, which cause ugliness, sickness, and death to happen, can be quite beautiful when you zoom into take a closer look. Glass artist Luke Jerram turned his fascination with the beauty of the shapes and textures of viruses and bacteria into incredible sculptures in a body of work entitled Glass Microbiology.

In fact, viruses have no colour as they are smaller than the wavelength of light. By extracting the colour from the imagery and creating jewel-like beautiful sculptures in glass, a complex tension has arisen between the artworks’ beauty and what they represent.

Horrors, like HIV, ebola, and swine flu, are made into objects that one can behold in a whole new light. And when you hold one of Jerram’s glass pathogens in your hand, you start to think about the disease differently as well. As glass forms, they beg us to consider their roles in the ecosystem of our planet and their impact on all parts of life here.

While macro photography also can illuminate the beauty of pathogens, they usually rely on colored dyes and filters to enhance the images because viruses have no color -- they are smaller than the wavelength of light.

Jerram, who happens to be colorblind, chose to stay true to their colorlessness but rather exaggerate their size. The glass replicas are made to scale -- about 1 million times bigger than reality.

Jerram uses both art and science to explore the edges of perception. He studies microscopic images of the pathogens, then creates sketches which he gives to his glassblowers, Kim George, Brian Jones and Norman Veitch.

Five models of the same virus are produced. They are verified by virologists from the University of Bristol. The best pieces head to museums and galleries around the world.

The sculptures have incredible impact. They change our perceptions and our relationships with the deadly diseases that they represent.

Dear Luke,

I just saw a photo of your glass sculpture of HIV.

I can’t stop looking at it. Knowing that millions of those guys are in me, and will be a part of me for the rest of my life. Your sculpture, even as a photo, has made HIV much more real for me than any photo or illustration I’ve ever seen. It’s a very odd feeling seeing my enemy, and the eventual likely cause of my death, and finding it so beautiful.

Thank you.

Jerram's Glass Microbiology artworks are in major museum collections around the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Shanghai Museum of Glass, Wellcome Collection (London) and Corning Museum of Glass (USA).

Jerram's sculptures have also been recognized in the scientific community with features in The Lancet, Scientific American, The BMJ and on the front cover of Nature.

Jerram’s Glass Microbiology artworks are also available for sale to private collectors. Artworks are signed and dated, limited editions of just 5.

And check out Art in Mind, a book written by Jerram that tracks much of his perceptual research.

Check out Jerram’s website to learn more about his work and his upcoming museum exhibitions.

Glass sculpture of the malaria virus, by Luke Jerram.

Read more about Beautiful Danger all this week on BeautifulNow, including 10 Beautiful Dangerous Places to Visit Now, Crazy. Badass. Beautiful Climbs and The Art & Design of Blowing Up Evil. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.

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