"For centuries, artists of all kinds - from Michelangelo to Martin Scorsese, Salvador Dali to Damien Hirst and Andrew Lloyd Webber to Monty Python - have attempted to convey the meaning of the crucifixion through their work" (Channel4.com http://www.channel4.com/programmes/crucifixion 3/5/2012)
On Sunday the 8th of April Channel 4 aired a program om Gunther Von Hangens and the use of his "plastination" technique to create a sculpture of the crucifixion using the blood vessels and bones of three human corpses. I watched this program and was prepared to be shocked but was utterly fascinated. To see the dignity and respect afforded to the people who had donated their corpses to Von Hagens was quite humbling. He took something that previously has only every been seen in an anatomy book, due to the fragility of the structure of the blood vessels, and was able to reveal it in all its fascinating detail.
Using the imagery from this program I was able to incorporate it into my drawing for the first project for the course, as a super life size drawing of a hand, incorporating road maps under the layers of tissue to suggest skin and blood vessels.
Despite all the references to artists past and present who have used the crucifix as a source of inspiration, I still had doubts about if Von Hagens work would be seen as a more scientific area rather than artistic. So it was a bit of a relief to see the Art Fund including his work in a recent email.
"Animal Inside Out" by Gunther Von Hagens
There are similarities to the work of Damien Hirst especially "Anatomy of an Angel" which features the crossover between religious and anatomical studies. Von Hagens insists that there was never any attempt to offend by choosing this subject matter, citing much more offensive films and images, and to be honest I cannot see anything that would offend, only that which would inspire. Article by Gunther Von Hagens
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