When I think about a common movement made every day, I think about writing, manipulating a pen, pencil; even painting is very gestural. What fascinates me about this concept is that when you take it apart piece by piece, you come to realize that working with your mark making implement, you are transferring an abstract concept between the mark maker and the viewer. I believe this is extremely true in the case of small children or people just learning to paint, because they tend to make a mark which describes what they "think" rather than what they "see".

Much later as these skills develop the words/images become clarity with practice and maturity. Therefor you can imagine my surprise when I came across Paya, a 6 year old elephant in a Northern Thailand elephant village who paints. Pachiderms are believed to be on par with primates regarding intelligence. Her painting, however, crosses so many bridges and tells us there is so much waiting for us to see in the animal kingdom that our humanity has overlooked in the past.

This story becomes yet another fascet of my idea of human and animal blending...only here the elephant is creating images which her human audience can cleary understand and enjoy

Therianthropic Creation in the Name of Science

Ah, the Brits have gone and done it! Your wildest fears will be a reality. No wait seriously, Fergus Walsh, the medical coorespondant for BBC America announced "Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK." Using human DNA placed in bovine eggs which have been stripped of their genetic material, the scientist have developed a way to grow and harvest stem cells for further research and development.

And the Catholic Church has gone ballistic in their resounding condemnation of this act of science calling it "monstrous."

All hype aside are we talking about minotaurs or microscopic cells? Thankfully only the latter-and at that they are only allowed to grow for 14 days. This interesting solution came about because of a shortage of human eggs so the scientist simply engineered a replacement with governmental approval.

The blending continues.

I am very interested in the forms of biologically engineered movement. The formation of wings, the muscles which move them and the coordination needed to maintain a life sustaining movement such as flight or moving away from a predator at high speed is fascinating to me.

The act of bipedal movement has been referred to as a "form of controlled falling" and this can be seen in the photographs of Edward Muybridge. Look at how the torso leans forward into the movement and then is 'caught' by the outstretched leg.

Comparing the movement between the running man and fighting birds, there is such a natural fluidity in the bird's movement. The Bird doesn't have to be taught how to move, but the man must train for extended periods of time to perfect his running ability.

I believe we humans observe the animal kingdom and learn from their natural abilities to enhance our own movements.

Therianthropes Possibly 32,000 years old

I'm back on the pursuit of what the origin of half human and half animal beings are called in ancient art. I came across this article in New Scientist which discusses a variety of pieces which date between 10,000 B.C. and 32,000 B.C.

The article uses the term "Therianthrope" which means: "part man and part beast, from the Greek therion, θηρίον, meaning "wild animal" or "beast", and anthrōpos, άνθρωπος, meaning "man") refers to the metamorphosis of humans into animals.[1] Therianthropes have long existed in mythology, appearing in ancient cave drawings[2] such as the Sorcerer at Les Trois Frères."

The challenge I see with this word is that it has the connotation of transformation, metamorphosis or change from one form into another rather than two forms coexisting simualtaneously as in the case of animal headed deities or merfolk, for example.

I believe however, I am getting closer.

References from Wikipedia
1. ^ Edward Podolsky (1953). Encyclopedia of Aberrations: A Psychiatric Handbook. Philosophical Library.
2.^ Trois Freres. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved on 2006-12-06.

Regeneration & Beyond

Well, so much for all the sci-fi writers. Science is finally catching up to all of the writers and visionaries' wildest dreams. Check out this news report where scientists are using the body's own cells to regenerate body tissue, regrow body parts and ultimately regrow vital organs. CBS Sunday Morning Newsmagazine (click to view the video & article) just ran this fascinating story. Now, how long do you honestly think it will be before some enterprising scientist takes these technologies another step further and starts blending human cells and animal cells to create hybrid organs? Think about it, imagine a soldier who has the ability to see with the clarity of a hawk or owl? Or the soldier who can sense with reptillian accuracy heat signatures? Or who can track by smells just like their canine counterparts? Perhaps a muscian/sound tech who can hear a fuller spectrum of sound. What about muscle development for faster speed or greater strength? Forget steriods, this guy really is a Gorilla!

More Disturbing Information

After coming across the photo of Paccinini's "Young Family", I found this article from National Geographic which talks about Chimeras that are being bred right now in the name of scientific research. This isn't National Enquirer or some Sci-Fi novel. This is current, real medical practice which is not governed in any way. Our current ideas of ethics don't even begin to cover the possibility of "mice with human brains" or "pigs with veins following with human blood."

When I started on this idea of tracking the blending of Human and Animal forms I had no idea the extent to which this idea is actually being carried out. Is this a source for art inspirations? Definitely, no matter what you feel about the topic this is sure to illicit very strong emotions.

Possible Augmentation

I just came across this fascinating video on "Artificial Muscle." The possible applications are fascinating. Click HERE to see the video.