The History of Bees
Bee, 2019 (unfinished)
Graphite on archival paper
The past month has been occupied by the commission of a bee drawing. I was initially perplexed by this request as the last time I think I drew a bee was probably around the age of 6. I also happened to be reading the book, The History of Bees by Maja Lunde, at the time of the request. It was a Christmas present from my sister. I also recently read about the mass insect extinction that is currently happening around the world. Scientists believe that insects may be gone entirely within the next 100 years if the current trajectory of extinction continues. If this were to eventuate, it would be catastrophic for plant life and human life as we know it. Then I came across an article in the Australian Geographic which had referenced research from the journal, Science Advances. The published research had shown that during an experiment bees were able to learn basic mathematics - addition and subtraction. This was despite having a brain that contains only 1 million neurons. Humans have around 100 billion neurons by comparison.
So for some reason, bees have been appearing more and more since taking on this commission. Or maybe I am just taking more notice of these amazing tiny creatures.
After looking at microscopic scientific photographs of bee wings, I decided to focus the drawing on the complex beauty of bee wings, creating a more abstract version of a drawing rather than a straight-up bee drawing.
I am hoping to be finished in a few weeks. I have also decided to add some metal element to the drawing. Not sure how yet. I’ll post the finished work in the next month.
New old work - well, newly documented unfinished old work. It is challenging to photograph this piece as the paper is so translucent and the work is incomplete and a little haphazard. I also only had my phone as a camera.
This work was shown with George Angeloski in Berlin. It is a bit undercooked at the moment, and after finally pulling it out of the travel tube to photograph it (6 months later) I think I will start working on it again this month. The drafting film that was used for this drawing didn’t travel well but I kind of like the creases and folds in the paper. George likened this drawing to sweat dripping down the wall which I liked. Perforated perspiration.