Studies for ARGUABLY ALIVE : the virus taxonomy

Executed in Whitehead's signature graphic materials, shellac and metal leaf on Kayasuki paper, the Studies for Arguably Alive: the virus taxonomy explore the complex geometric structure of four important viruses: Ebola, HIV, Pox and Herpes. Employing multiple systems of drawing, the metal leaf likens the works to devotional images, some inlaid with anachronistic chine-collé electromicrographs. The original four blonde shellac pencil drawings were later translated into lithographic monoprints, handcolored with more vivid pigmented shellac, a collaboration with Anchor Graphics.

the Studies amplify the perverse, terrifying beauty of these mysterious microbes.

Complementing the material investigations of the larger ceramic installation, the Studies amplify the perverse, terrifying beauty of these mysterious microbes. Among the most primordial of things, viruses themselves are newly seen and thus have no historical iconography. Visible only with the instrumentalized viewing of electro-microscopy, the “unseen,” are rendered here in materials that recall illuminated manuscripts or hisorical documents . Included in the drawings is the 100 nanometer bar used in electro-micrographs and its taxon number.

Created at the turn of the present millennium Arguably Alive anticipates the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic

Created at the turn of the present millennium,Arguably Alive: the virus taxonomy anticipates the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic which brought viruses into global consciousness. Made possible by the advent of the internet, Arguably Alive holds six millennia within its conceptual, material, and biologic frame.