emerging artist: Daniel Listwan
In these works I utilize the decorative tradition of Josiah
Wedgwood’s Jasperware line and alter it. The functional object here is not a teacup
or trinket box but rather iconic scientific instruments used frequently in
microbiology for researching microscopic bacterium, pathogens and other such
organisms. The images on these vessels are not of pretty, benign neoclassical
scenes, but rather of mutation-causing, death-spreading malign life forms such
as anthrax, Ebola, Yersinia pestis (Black Death), H5N1 and other such biohazards.
Unlike the gods and heroes depicted on Wedgwood’s Jasperware, these flasks
depict the life forms we should truly fear and respect, the ones that remind us
that the human animal is not as superior as we might hope.
Wedgwood’s Jasperware line and alter it. The functional object here is not a teacup
or trinket box but rather iconic scientific instruments used frequently in
microbiology for researching microscopic bacterium, pathogens and other such
organisms. The images on these vessels are not of pretty, benign neoclassical
scenes, but rather of mutation-causing, death-spreading malign life forms such
as anthrax, Ebola, Yersinia pestis (Black Death), H5N1 and other such biohazards.
Unlike the gods and heroes depicted on Wedgwood’s Jasperware, these flasks
depict the life forms we should truly fear and respect, the ones that remind us
that the human animal is not as superior as we might hope.
