Prírodopis/Natural Science 1973

This etching titled Prírodopis/Natural Science was made by Jan Svankmajer. It's wild how he combines organic and mechanical elements into these strange, unsettling forms. The piece is mostly monochromatic, but then you get these jolts of color, like the blue brains or the orange butterflies, that pull you in. I’m struck by the etching technique. The lines are so precise, almost scientific, but the images themselves are so bizarre. Take the central figure with its brain wings held up by spider legs. It's a drawing of something we've never seen before, a sort of surrealist biology lesson. The way he uses texture, the stippling and cross-hatching, gives a tactile quality to the piece. You can almost feel the grittiness of the metal plate it was printed from. It reminds me a bit of Max Ernst, who also played with collage and found imagery. But Svankmajer brings his own unique brand of dark humor to the mix. Ultimately, the piece reveals how art helps us see the world in unexpected ways.