At first glance, the artworks by Seung-Hwan Oh could easily be mistaken for watercolor paintings. Full of abstract lines and blurry colors, it is only natural that someone would make that assumption. In reality, however, Seung-Hwan Oh collaborated with microbes to create each visually striking image. Originally photographs, the developed films were placed in water rife with microbes for months and even years to obtain these beautiful effects.
Titled Impermanence, Seung-Hwan Oh images focus mainly on artfully destroyed portraits. Seung-Hwan Oh says that they embody “an aesthetic of entangled creation and destruction that inevitably is ephemeral, and results in complete disintegration of the film so that it can only be delicately digitized before it is consumed.” The effects are mesmerizing, to say the very least.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Artistic Microbial Collaboration
- Opportunity for artists to collaborate with microbes to create visually striking and unique artworks.
- Aesthetic of Entangled Creation and Destruction
- Exploration of the beauty in impermanence and the disintegration of traditional mediums like film.
- Digitizing Delicate Decay
- Development of techniques to digitally capture and preserve fragile artworks before they completely disintegrate.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Photography
- Adapting traditional photography techniques to incorporate microbial collaboration for breathtaking effects.
- Art
- Artists exploring innovative ways to create and appreciate impermanence in their works.
- Digital Archiving
- Development of advanced digitization techniques to preserve delicate artworks that are prone to decay.
