Bejeweled beauties

December 3, 2007 12:40 AM

Form and Pheromone - truly lovely beetle mosaics and insect art. (via recogedor) Previously: Living Jewels.
posted by madamjujujive (20 comments total)

Wow! The mosaics are amazing eye candy. They way they are arranged has my eyes flitting around the piece; they have a skittering, restless energy in the arrangement appropriate to the subject matter. And then when my attention alights on any particular bug, it is glorious in its own right. Great find, madamjujujive, thanks!
posted by carsonb at 12:49 AM on December 3, 2007

This pretty much answers the question, "Have humans made a color that isn't already found in nature?" that I've wondered for a little while.
posted by philomathoholic at 1:19 AM on December 3, 2007

God, I'd love to own one of those mosaics!

Handsome site, too.

This pretty much answers the question, "Have humans made a color that isn't already found in nature?"

Now, I'm just a drummer, not a scientist, but based on my understanding of color and light, it wouldn't be possible for humans to "make" a color.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:25 AM on December 3, 2007

Fantastic photographs, but it leaves me wondering if any insects were harmed in the process?
posted by three blind mice at 1:27 AM on December 3, 2007

Not harmed, just killed.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:30 AM on December 3, 2007

Seriously, though, this might answer some of your questions.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:32 AM on December 3, 2007

Thanks flapjax at midnite.

Entomologists have long affirmed that it is not the collecting of insects out of the wild that adversely affects their populations, but the destruction of their habitats and hostplants (the plant an insect species requires to reproduce.)

That't what the Japanese and Icelanders said about their whalehunts.....

Obviously, killing one beetle isn't going to "adversely affect" their populations, but it is one hell of an adverse effect on that particular creature. If every LOLcats photo involved killing a cat, I doubt most people would easily overlook this.

Knowing all those awful, scary creatures were killed to make these pretty pictures takes away a great deal of their beauty.
posted by three blind mice at 3:55 AM on December 3, 2007

Knowing all those awful, scary creatures were killed to make these pretty pictures takes away a great deal of their beauty.

Thats somewhat how I felt admiring the site, I always thought butterfly collecting a tad ghoulish, but then again, I can admire some nice crocodile skin boots, or a lovely suede sofa.

And I do have a collection of dog heads.
posted by mattoxic at 5:00 AM on December 3, 2007

Dog heads? Cool. I hear that collecting and displaying dog heads is actually great for the dog population as a whole. Just think of the dog awareness that is being spread!
posted by R. Mutt at 6:29 AM on December 3, 2007

I'll feel sorry for bugs dying when they don't have over twice the number of species as all other living organisms combined. Get to work, artists!
posted by carsonb at 7:29 AM on December 3, 2007

Knowing all those awful, scary creatures were killed to make these pretty pictures takes away a great deal of their beauty.

I wouldn't worry about most insects, but I would worry about this. (Found whilst looking for preserved insects).
posted by Leon at 7:51 AM on December 3, 2007

These are stunning.
posted by heatherann at 8:53 AM on December 3, 2007

It would bother me less is it was somehow for more than decorative purposes.
posted by R. Mutt at 9:06 AM on December 3, 2007

*if it was...
posted by R. Mutt at 9:18 AM on December 3, 2007

Now, I'm just a drummer, not a scientist, but based on my understanding of color and light, it wouldn't be possible for humans to "make" a color.

I'll try to be clearer. We have color wheels that show all possible colors perceivable by the average person. From the linked pictures above, it appears that all of the exotic colors one might think have been neglected in nature are actually present. What I meant by "make" was picking a new color from a color wheel that hasn't previously been seen in human constructions, and creating a product that has that new color.
posted by philomathoholic at 12:29 PM on December 3, 2007

i used to have a coffee table book about coleoptera with a similar group photo as the inside cover.
posted by snofoam at 2:17 PM on December 3, 2007

I forgot about the prior awesome beetle and insect art post by jonson, in which the issue of insect harvesting was raised. That thread discussed the ceiling of the Royal Palace in Brussels which artist Jan Fabre lined with the carapaces of nearly a million jewel beetles - he claimed he collected them for three years from entomology departments of universities and restaurants, where he says they are cooked an eaten for protein the way we eat mussels.

The artist really doesn't share much about how these beetles were harvested. I admit, it appears to be insecticide, but I can't throw too many stones since I've killed a lot of bugs in my day, just not such pretty ones. But then again, my crimes were ones in the heat of passion (eeek, eeek!) not in premeditation.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:10 PM on December 3, 2007

Pretty Sad.
posted by petersn1 at 5:08 PM on December 3, 2007

Wow! Opening the first page was such a delightful surprise. Just my kind of eye candy. Amazingly beautiful.
posted by nickyskye at 8:59 PM on December 3, 2007

Great Post MJJ.
posted by dhruva at 4:37 PM on December 4, 2007