Hiding in the Shadows

Science

Clemente Susini was an 18th century Florentine sculptor famed for his beautiful, useful, and grotesque anatomical wax models of partially dissected animals and humans. His models were based on a combination of anatomical drawings and dissected corpses, and due to their unflinching accuracy were mainly used to teach medical students. In his lifetime they were shipped around the world for this use, but since then they have also come to be regarded as artistic masterpieces. https://hekint.org/2019/12/02/the-wax-models-of-clemente-susini-1752-1814/

Theme

This study of Clemente Susini's 'The Neurological Head' depicts muscles, blood vessels, and tissue in their entirety, prompting viewers to consider what structures lie just below their skin. However discomforting the waxwork is, one somehow feels that one cannot look away. I sought to replicate that feeling but through the use of a tablet pen in a linocut style rather than wax, complete with a colour-block approach. The original sculpture was rendered in muted shades of beige and brown and thus this contemporary response responds accordingly, but with the addition of a striking blue to represent the shift in time.

Bio

Chloe Marschner (they/them) is a London-based illustrator and science communicator. Whilst studying a masters in science communication at Imperial College London, they have illustrated for a range of organisations, including The Lyric Theatre, Queens' Arts Festival, and iScience magazine. Chloe has also designed and screen-printed their own psychology-themed merchandise, which features such designs as 'Oral Fixation' and 'Green EEGS and Ham'. 

More of their art can be found on their Instagram @clo.glyphics or website https://www.cloglyphics.com/