Chimera - 2, Rohini Devasher

Artwork Overview

Rohini Devasher, Chimera - 2
Rohini Devasher, Chimera - 2
Rohini Devasher
Chimera - 2
2008
Rohini Devasher
born 1978
Chimera - 2, 2008
Where object was made: India
Material/technique: inkjet print; hand coloring
Dimensions:
Object Height/Width (Height x Width): 102 x 44 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 270 x 112 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 106 5/16 x 44 1/8 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Art Acquisition Fund
Accession number: 2017.0149
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World
Devasher’s imaginings of hybrid life forms in her series of Archetypes (botanical hybrids) and Chimeras (animal, plant, mechanical hybrids) suggest future beings whose genetic origins are obscure but whose organic details are strangely familiar. In these fusions of synthetic life and bio-engineering, Devasher allows us to fast forward to potential outcomes of our rapidly expanding bio-technological capabilities and reflect on their implications. She places her work in dialogue with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1790 publication The Metamorphosis of Plants, in which Goethe discusses his significant theories about plant morphology. Devasher summarizes Goethe’s thinking as a search for the archetypal plant, “one basic form that manifests in the multitude of single plant individuals; and within this basic form, there lies the potential for endless transformation, by which manifoldness is created out of oneness.” Devasher further explores this concept through her artwork.
Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World
Devasher’s imaginings of hybrid life forms in her series of Archetypes (botanical hybrids) and Chimeras (animal, plant, mechanical hybrids) suggest future beings whose genetic origins are obscure but whose organic details are strangely familiar. In these fusions of synthetic life and bio-engineering, Devasher allows us to fast forward to potential outcomes of our rapidly expanding bio-technological capabilities and reflect on their implications. She places her work in dialogue with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1790 publication The Metamorphosis of Plants, in which Goethe discusses his significant theories about plant morphology. Devasher summarizes Goethe’s thinking as a search for the archetypal plant, “one basic form that manifests in the multitude of single plant individuals; and within this basic form, there lies the potential for endless transformation, by which manifoldness is created out of oneness.” Devasher further explores this concept through her artwork.
Big Botany Selections
Devasher’s imaginings of hybrid life forms in her series of Archetypes (botanical hybrids) and Chimeras (animal, plant, mechanical hybrids) suggest future beings whose genetic origins are obscure but whose organic details are strangely familiar. In these fusions of synthetic life and bio-engineering, Devasher allows us to fast forward to potential outcomes of our rapidly expanding bio-technological capabilities and reflect on their implications. She places her work in dialogue with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1790 publication The Metamorphosis of Plants, in which Goethe discusses his significant theories about plant morphology. Devasher summarizes Goethe’s thinking as a search for the archetypal plant, “one basic form that manifests in the multitude of single plant individuals; and within this basic form, there lies the potential for endless transformation, by which manifoldness is created out of oneness.” Devasher further explores this concept through her artwork. Tap the web icon to read the artist's description of this project.

Exhibitions

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World
Stephen Goddard, curator
2018

Resources

Links

Citations

Goddard, Stephen H, ed. Big Botany Conversations with the Plant World. Lawrence, Kansas: Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, 2018.