Luke Jerram at Smithfields
E. coli, Luke Jerram
The results of artist Luke Jerram’s work with a team of glass blowers and virologists go on show at London’s Smithfield Gallery from 22 September – 9 October
For the last five years installation artist Luke Jerram has been working on a series of ‘viral sculptures’. Delicate, seemingly abstract, organic glass objects, each one is in fact an exact representation in glass of a virus or bacteria. And not just any virus or bacteria, each sculpture is a model of a particular deadly disease – so the glittering oval-shaped object that looks like the perfect Christmas tree decoration is in fact a model of Swine Flu and the delightfully wriggly sea anemone form fringed with little curling tentacles is E Coli. Each model is roughly 20-30 cm long and their delicacy and detail make them incredibly beautiful, a beauty which is in stark contrast to their terrifying subject matter. They’re are a huge technical achievement and were made by glassblowers Kim George, Brian Jones and Norman Veitch after Jerram developed their shapes with virologist Dr Andrew Davidson from the University of Bristol using different scientific photographs, diagrams and models.
Although his first sculpture in the series, a model of the HIV virus, was bought by the Wellcome Collection in 2003 and has been on public display since then, this is the first time all Jerram’s viral sculptures have been displayed together as an entire body of work.
www.thesmithfieldgallery.com
