‘When appropriately composed, I think nature’s designs are impossible to supersede’, says Christoper Marley, and rightly so.
His hermetically sealed compositions are breathtakingly beautiful, and are made up of insects, fossils and feathers, collected from all over the world including South East Asia, Africa and South America, . But along with the visual appeal, Marley is well versed with the entomology of his materials, which enables him to craft arrangements and individual insect portraits that are perfectly harmonious. More than the creepy crawliness of these insects, he forces us to see their delicate beauty and colour. We haven’t been this inspired by bugs before.
Here’s a video of how Marley collects his insects. We don’t entirely approve of the collection of live specimens to make artworks, but Marley’s work does prove the point that in some cases, making great art requires you to place an object or the action in question within a synthetic environment to achieve greater awareness of its importance. And often there are no easy ways to create this environment.
