THE BEAUTY OF IMPERFECT SPECIMENS NOW

MALAMP RELIQUARIES -- BRANDON BALLENGÉE

“A perfect specimen” is the usual ultimate desire, for scientists, collectors and admirers. This is especially true with regard to biological specimens, which connect to our own viscera and sense of self. But there is also beauty in imperfect, aberrant, and unusual specimens.

Artist and biologist Brandon Ballengée finds the beauty in deformity. He creates works with deformed frog specimens to create fascinating, beautiful, and impactful art in an ongoing series entitled Malamp: Reliquaries. Ballengée has been working this series since 1996. 

You might feel a twinge of squeamishness once you realize that you are looking at specimens that exhibit pathological mutations, but -- take a deep breath and get past it so you can focus on the beauty here.

Upon hearing of a large number of deformed frogs discovered in Minnesota, Ballengée volunteered with the United States Geological Survey to travel the country and collect data on the deformities found in frogs. His volunteerism was the precursor to his art. 

The deformities that these frogs developed were so severe, they were terminal. To memorialize and honor their short lives, Ballengée began to create their portraits in the field. He ultimately developed this brilliant set of techniques that rendered the stunning transparent pieces we see here.

To begin the process of turning frog specimens into art, Ballengée uses a process called “clearing and staining,” in which he removes opacities, by applying special enzymes, and stains connective tissue and bone with dyes. Finally, the artist places the entirety of the frog in glycerin, which renders it fully transparent as seen above.

Imperfect specimens look strange. Here, tangled extra legs look grotesque before the artist’s process, appear thin, delicate, and beautiful at the end result.

To capture the actual images of these prepared specimens and ensure their perfect focus, Ballengée first makes a complete scan of each frog. He then stacks multiple image overlays, using Photoshop.

They appear crystalline, with brightly colored complex shapes that tell the strange story of the frogs’ short lives. As Ballengée puts it, “they resemble gems, or the stained glass windows found in some cathedrals.”

Each frog is given a name from Greco-Roman mythology, as if each was a hero for their bold attempts at survival despite impossible circumstances. Ballengée seeks to recognize the lives of these otherwise unrecognized or intentionally passed over creatures. 

Ballengée hopes that these frogs will help the viewer to appreciate all nature, the mistakes as well as the successes -- the imperfect specimens of amphibians and fish. He considers his work an expansion of what is currently seen as beautiful. And we must say that we agree.

The Malamp series is printed with watercolor ink on watercolor paper. The pieces have an antique feel -- looking like 19th century botanical and forensic scientific illustrations or even Audubon watercolors. The Malamp portraits are printed at the same size as Audubon’s original Birds of America prints.

We immediately thought about man-made problems, caused by pollutants, chemical and radiological exposures as the cause of the frogs’ deformities. But we learned that natural predation may be the more direct cause in most cases.

For example, at a Yorkshire pond, Ballengée watched as dragonfly nymphs captured tadpoles, chewed off their legs, and released them back into the water. As the tadpoles healed, they developed these malformations. Many amphibian biologists cite Ribeiroia ondatrae, a parasite, as the culprit responsible for the growth of extra limbs.

Ballengée holds a Ph.D in both biology and art. Check out more of his work and writings here.

Read more about Beautiful Specimens, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Most Beautiful Specimens Available Now, 10 Most Stunningly Beautiful Mineral Specimens Now, 40 Beautiful Specimens of Fruit in 1 Amazing Specimen Tree, The Art of Specimens Now and 10 Beautiful Specimen Trees to Visit Now.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Specimens in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 10.19.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Stained amphibian imagery
2. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. “Glaucus.”
3. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Stained amphibian imagery.
4. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Cleared and stained Pacific tree frog collected in Aptos, California.
5. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Unique Iris print on Arches watercolor paper.
6. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Unique IRIS print on watercolor paper.
7. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Unique digital-C print on watercolor paper.
8. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. “Artemis.”
9. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Frog from Malamp: Reliquaries.
10. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Specimen from Breathing Space for the Hudson.
11. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée.  Frog from Malamp: Reliquaries.
12. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Iris print on Arches watercolor paper.
13. Photo: Courtesy of Brandon Ballengée. Specimen from Breathing Space for the Hudson.