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Loading... Pheromone: The Insect Artwork of Christopher Marleyby Christopher Marley
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Christopher Marley's graceful arrangements of jewel-like arthropods make converts of those who have long seen insects as creepy-these are stunning works of art. Marley's keen eye for design combines with his entomological education to produce mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic bug mandalas and striking up-close-and-personal single-insect portraits. Neither painted nor digitally enhanced, the artist's subjects appear in this book just as they would if you found one on your screen door. Each gorgeous creation is identified with its scientific and common names, and many are accompanied by concise descriptive text. In succinct essays, Marley writes about insect collecting and its benefits to the environment; he describes his creative process in choosing and arranging the creatures for optimal visual effect.After a childhood spent running from every creature that skittered about on more than four legs, Marley has devoted much of his adult life to studying bugs-with increasing fascination. He makes frequent forays to remote locations far removed from his home in Oregon, seeking out the most beautiful and exotic species on Earth. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)709.2The arts Modified subdivisions of the arts History, geographic treatment, biography Biography (artists not limited to a specific form)LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Phenomenaler, I mean Pheromone, is a stunning photographic collection of Christopher Marley’s insect artwork.I first heard of Marley on a CBS Sunday Morning segment. He grew into adulthood hating insects (their legs, especially), but when the colors, shapes and textures of particularly remote species caught his artist’s eye, his dread turned to fascination. His specimens are sustainably collected from around the world, supporting local tribes and their efforts to resist deforestation (and the loss of habitat that results in species endangerment).
He preserves, mounts and frames the insects, sometimes arranging mixed species (like the “mosaic” on the book’s cover, a sort of insect version of a wildflower garden), but more often composing groups of a single species (evocative of massed tulips) or even a striking lone insect. The nubby and hairy textures are practically tactile, the colors are fabulous, and every image is lively -- the circularity of a mandala of longhorn beetles; the waves of color washing across a page of massed scarabs; the page-full of 95%-identical moths that highlights their individuating differences. The book's Endnotes include the title of each work of art; the insect specimen’s common name, scientific name, geographic location and actual size; and sometimes Marley’s personal comments, which made me re-visit the images with new insight. I've given more than a passing thought to pulling out some of these pages to frame. ( )