June 17, 2010 | In Art, Science, Smile, Think, Video | 1 Comment

MORPHOLOGIC: Marine biology turned abstract, surreal art

MORPHOLOGIC is a perfect example of what can be created when two seemingly unrelated disciples come together. Marine biologist Colin Foord and musician Jared McKay are collaborating to create works of abstract, even surreal art out of materials that in the past would have become a standard marine life documentary. Their laboratory is a certified aquaculture facility which sounds quite removed from most artists studios, but for the purposes of MORPHOLOGIC, thats exactly what it is, a studio. While each study is accompanied by a detailed scientific write up, these are so artfully composed you quickly forget they were filmed in a lab. For me each piece has a meditative quality, with its ambient soundtrack interrupted ever so subtly by imagined sounds of a creatures movement, sluggish motion of gills or sped up tentacles and colors found only underwater. Watching these I seem to consistently drift off in thought, replaying the same studies over and over noticing new details each time. Faced with extreme close ups of marine life that few people actually see I can’t help but appreciate how amazingly complex and beautiful nature is, which really makes me want to start utilizing my biology degree again. I’ve included a couple of my favorites above but I highly recommend checking out all the rest of them on MORPHOLOGIC’s Vimeo page. Happy drifting.

Posted by Nathaniel | 1 Comment