Theme: World
Context: Butterfly wings and Kaleidoscope effect
With beams of light striking through, the butterfly wings reflect their iridescent, kaleidoscope-like patterns, glorifying the beauty that nature has gifted. Butterfly has a periodical multi-layer on their scales on their wings resulting in multiple internal reflection, refraction, and interference events (Herring, 1994).
On the other hand, some butterfly wings mimic the surrounding environment allowing the butterfly to hide away from its predators. The structure of butterfly wings varies from the living habit of the butterfly.
When thinking of butterflies and kaleidoscope, Damien Hirst is the name that is worth mentioning because most of his paintings are about this subject. He would go out to catch or buy butterflies, rip their wings off and glue piece by piece on canvas. It sounds morbid but the final results are quite astounding. It’s like an experiment with colors as butterfly wings are colorful as the flowers they live off from. Hirst’s creative progress has caused him great trouble as he is condemned for killing 9,000 butterflies by the RSCPA (Nikkhah, 2012). In addition, Vadim Zaritsky is a Russian artist who also takes advantages on butterfly wings as materials. Although he shares the same practice as Hirst, Zaritsky adds in paint strokes for better visualization on non-abstract pieces.
Bibliography/ References:
Herring, P.J. , 1994, “Reflective systems in aquatic animals”, Comp Biochem Physiol A Physiol 109, third edition, page 513–546.
Nikkhah, R, 2012, “Damien Hirst condemned for killing 9,000 butterflies in Tate show”, The Telegraph, Viewed on Sept. 10th 2019 < https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9606498/Damien-Hirst-condemned-for-killing-9000-butterflies-in-Tate-show.html >
Method: Since butterfly wings possess the color of the flowers, one can argue that butterfly wings have been reflecting, not just the colors of nature but of the world. The world needs movement in order to be alive so video footages will be the best choice. Nonetheless, it is a world on butterfly wings. The world needs to be in kaleidoscope form.
The world is a big word. There is a lot of things within it. What could be selected to represent the world? Elements. Natural elements. They could be anything that gives a sensation of awe and aesthetic. Then I proceed to pick out what amaze me the most: Ocean waves, amethysts, fire, thunderstorm, and a field of blooming flowers. Later, I radially mirror all footages and overlay the butterfly wings on top.
Programs used: Photoshop, Illustrator, After effect
Response: It's pretty. I am quite content with it. It could work well as a projection mapping piece. Furthermore, I could just squeeze in different kaleidoscopic element footages in each fragment of patterns on the wings but I would not take the risk of crashing program because there are a lot of fragments, big and small.