At first glance, this beautiful paper artwork looks like the creation of 3D printing. However, artist Rogan Brown makes it all by hand. Despite its snowflake like structure, the France-based artist is actually inspired by forms of bacteria and other organisms.
According to an interview with Shots, Brown was inspired to create the work after meeting with a group of microbiologists in 2014, to plan an exhibition on the human microbiome. He became fascinated by the hidden world of microbes and the strange shapes of pathogens. He is particularly interested in humans’ fear of the invisible microbiological world.
On his website, Brown says that by mixing science and art, he hopes to elucidate the natural intricacies and “breathtaking detail found in nature.”
His pieces are created by sketching detailed designs and then creating mock-ups in larger pen and ink drawings. Brown then begins to conceptualise the pieces in three dimensions. His choice of paper as the main working material is deliberate, “Paper, my chosen material, embodies the paradoxical qualities that we see in nature: its fragility and durability, its strength and delicacy; there is a pleasing poetic symmetry in taking this material that was cut from the forest and by cutting and transforming it once again returning it to its origins,” he says.
Click through our gallery above to see more of Brown’s incredible pieces. You can also see more at his website here and Facebook page.
All images courtesy of the artist.
