X-Rays of Flowers Reveal Their Phantasmagorical Makeup
The X-rays of Dr. Tasker reveal the beauty of the structures of flowers as never before seen.
Dr. Dain L. Tasker’s x-rays of flowers represent one of the most profuse human traits: the curiosity to know which forms make up the natural world; what lies beneath the skin, and how things are made. Tasker was a pioneer in botanical x-rays when medicine had only just discovered their use to observe human bone structures.
During the 1930s, Dr. Tasker was chief radiologist at Wilshire Hospital in Los Angeles. He had been an amateur photographer for years, but had not connected his hobby with his profession until he used an x-ray machine for what it is fundamentally intended to do: take photographs. And hence one of the most fascinating series of photographs emerged on the anatomy of flowers, and which highlights the impeccable detail of the elegant lines and hollows that are hidden at first sight.
“Flowers are the expression of the love life of plants,” Tasker wrote of his work. Spermatophytes are, after all, reproductive structures. The beauty that the radiologist saw in each of the species is evident. A tulip curves like the flame of a candle, the fleur de lys dances like a melancholic woman, a sepal reveals its filaments as if they were eyelashes. His series is a compendium of ghosts that inhabit right below the skin of flowers, and with them he creates a new aesthetic, both diaphanous and romantic, of these already beautiful living structures. There are people who look a little farther and who have the nature of creativity, of possibility.
Related Articles
Pictorial spiritism (a woman's drawings guided by a spirit)
There are numerous examples in the history of self-taught artists which suggest an interrogation of that which we take for granted within the universe of art. Such was the case with figures like
Astounding fairytale illustrations from Japan
Fairy tales tribal stories— are more than childish tales. Such fictions, the characters of which inhabit our earliest memories, aren’t just literary works with an aesthetic and pleasant purpose. They
A cinematic poem and an ode to water: its rhythms, shapes and textures
Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water. - John Keats Without water the equation of life, at least life as we know it, would be impossible. A growing hypothesis holds that water, including the
Watch beauty unfold through science in this "ode to a flower" (video)
The study of the microscopic is one of the richest, most aesthetic methods of understanding the world. Lucky is the scientist who, upon seeing something beautiful, is able to see all of the tiny
To invent those we love or to see them as they are? Love in two of the movies' favorite scenes
So much has been said already, of “love” that it’s difficult to add anything, much less something new. It’s possible, though, perhaps because even if you try to pass through the sieve of all our
This app allows you to find and preserve ancient typographies
Most people, even those who are far removed from the world of design, are familiar with some type of typography and its ability to transform any text, help out dyslexics or stretch an eight page paper
The secrets of the mind-body connection
For decades medical research has recognized the existence of the placebo effect — in which the assumption that a medication will help produces actual physical improvements. In addition to this, a
The sea as infinite laboratory
Much of our thinking on the shape of the world and the universe derives from the way scientists and artists have approached these topics over time. Our fascination with the mysteries of the
Sharing and collaborating - natural movements of the creative being
We might sometimes think that artistic or creative activity is, in essence, individualistic. The Genesis of Judeo-Christian tradition portrays a God whose decision to create the world is as vehement
John Malkovich becomes David Lynch (and other characters)
John Malkovich and David Lynch are, respectively, the actor and film director who’ve implicitly or explicitly addressed the issues of identity and its porous barriers through numerous projects. Now