exolith.form[ ]
I named this generative series after the marine micro-organisms (coccolithophores) who shed the tiny calcite plates (coccoliths) that form chalk. I found these organisms very interesting because they seemed half rock and half living. The structure of the organisms are somewhat mechanical, but with an uneven organic quality. The images that I created are meant to look as if they could or did exist, but it would not be clear if they were organic living objects or mechanically created forms.
I am inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s drawings and I find it interesting to think of how he popularized a view of nature that was somewhat artificial. Haeckel looked for order in nature and influenced scientists with his seductive drawings that showed this order. This series of prints is meant to look similar to the plaster casts that artists use when learning to draw. I feel that this implies a sense of rationality and order, as if these forms are here for us to study.
media: pigment print mounted to aluminum, size: 40″ X 40″, completed: 2010