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The exotic forms and luscious colours of the plant world and the way in which they infiltrate every aspect of our lives have been a source of inspiration for Rob Kesseler throughout his artistic career. Using a wide range of familiar materials and objects, from ceramics to furniture and drawing to photography, he creates sensual sculptures and emblematic images that celebrate each subject in a uniquely personal way. Rob Kesseler: Up Close traces his career starting with his early work that explores the paradoxes of representing nature through his ironic and humorous sculptures covered in familiar pictographic icons. His most recent work reflects current enlightened thinking that seeks to exploit the benefits of collaboration between artists and scientists. Over the past decade he has worked extensively with botanical scientists at Kew exploring the creative potential of microscopic plant material.
This title is the IP Book Awards 2007 Gold Medal winner for Outstanding Book of the Year - Most Original Concept. Never before seen SEM images are unique to the book. It will appeal to scientists, artists and photographers alike. The extraordinary beauty and structure of pollen grains invisible to the naked eye. This book is the result of the shared fascination of an artist and a scientist with the perfect design of organisms too small to be seen without a microscope. Pollen is ubiquitous; its tiny forms have fascinated the scientifically curious since the seventeenth century. Its tiny grains are enclosed beyond the accessible beauty of the flower until the moment of release, when they are carried by wind, water or animal vectors to achieve their purpose, which is procreation. A clear explanation of the structure and form of pollen, the remarkable events from pollination to fertilization, and the many ways in which pollen impacts unseen on our lives is interwoven with a dazzling array of original images created especially for the book.
Art and science collaborate on a fascinating story with extraordinary images in a highly-acclaimed book. Seeds, the most complex organs produced by plants, ensure the biodiversity of our planet. They vary from the impressive Seychelles nut that weighs twenty kilos to the dust-like seeds of the orchids. Some wait for hundreds of years to find the right place and time for germination after travelling thousands of kilometres or just a few centimetres. The evolution of their highly sophisticated structures from prehistoric times to today makes fascinating reading as do the wiles plants use to attract and deceive their chosen pollinators. The extraordinary images that accompany this story provide an unprecedented presentation of the magnificent diversity of seeds in all their exquisite beauty and sophistication. Fruits are the keepers of the precious seeds that ensure our future; some are edible, others inedible and many, quite simply, incredible.
Plants have developed manifold strategies and ruses for the dispersal of their seed. These are reflected in the many different colours, shapes and sizes of the fruits that contain and protect them. In this pioneering collaboration, visual artist Rob Kesseler and seed morphologist Wolfgang Stuppy use scanning electronmicroscopy to obtain astonishing images of a variety of fruits and the seeds they protect. Razor-sharp cross-sections reveal intricate interiors, nuts and other examples of botanical architecture and reproductive ingenuity. The black and white microscope images have been sumptuously coloured by Rob Kesseler highlighting the structure and functioning of the minuscule fruit and seeds some almost invisible to the naked eye and in so doing creating a work of art. Larger fruits, flowers and seeds have been especially photographed. The formation, development and demise of the fruits are described their vital role in the preservation of the biodiversity of our planet explained. Fruits are the keepers of the precious seeds that ensure our future; some are edible, others inedible and many, quite simply, incredible. Published in collaboration with Kew Royal Botanic Gardens.
Compared to the obvious complexity of animals, plants at a glance seem relatively simple in form. But that simplicity is deceptive: the plants around us are the result of millennia of incredible evolutionary adaptations that have allowed them to survive, and thrive, under wildly changing conditions and in remarkably specific ecological niches. Much of this innovation, however, is invisible to the naked eye. With Wonders of the Plant Kingdom, the naked eye gets an unforgettable boost. A stunning collaboration between science and art, this gorgeous book presents hundreds of images of plants taken with a scanning electron microscope and hand-colored by artist Rob Kesseler to reveal the awe-insp...
THE BIZARRE AND INCREDIBLE WORLD OF PLANTS, which sold 6,000 copies in hardcover and is now available in paperback This title brings together the best of these three books in one fascinating union of art and science, POLLEN: THE HIDDEN SEXUALITY OF FLOWERS; SEEDS: TIME CAPSULES OF LIFE; AND FRUIT: EDIBLE, INEDIBLE, INCREDIBLE. Each earned high praise that varied from "breathtaking" and "ravishing" to "enlightening" and "truly revelatory." Visual artist Rob Kesseler uses special light and scanning electron microscopy to create astonishing images of a variety of pollen, seeds and fruits. His razor-sharp cross-sections reveal intricate interiors, pods, pouches, keys, and other examples of botan...
A compelling investigation into the relationships between our biological past and cultural progress, "Cells to Civilizations" presents a remarkable story of living change.
The ultimate gift for gardeners and art-lovers, featuring 300 of the most beautiful and pioneering botanical images ever Following in the footsteps of the international bestseller Map: Exploring the World, this fresh and visually stunning survey celebrates the extraordinary beauty and diversity of plants. It combines photographs and cutting-edge micrograph scans with watercolours, drawings, and prints to bring this universally popular and captivating subject vividly to life. Carefully selected by an international panel of experts and arranged in a uniquely structured sequence to highlight thought-provoking contrasts and similarities, this stunning compilation of botanically themed images includes iconic work by celebrated artists, photographers, scientists, and botanical illustrators, as well as rare and previously unpublished images.
Thought-provoking and richly visual, Nature Morte brings together, for the first time, the poignant, provocative re-imaginings of the traditional still life by over 180 international contemporary artists. This visually stunning and timely book reveals how leading artists of the 21st century are reinvigorating the still life, a genre previously synonymous with the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Old Masters. Michael Petry's careful selection celebrates works by emerging and established artists alike, from all over the globe, including John Currin, Elmgreen & Dragset, Robert Gober, Renata Hegyi, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Gary Hume, Sarah Lucas, Beatriz Milhazes, Gabriel Orozco, Elizabeth...
In this lavish collection, artist Rob Kesseler and seed morphologist Wolfgang Stuppy of the Millennium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, present a natural history of seeds, illustrated with close-up photographs and scanning electron micrographs. The images afford an unprecedented view into a most astonishing microcosm, where even the tiniest examples are exquisitely beautiful and sophisticated—in fact Kesseler’s work has been called “mystifying,” “astounding,” and “awe-inspiring” by scientists and critics around the world. Seeds constitutes an essential source book not only for those fascinated by the natural world, but also for artists, designers, and anyone inter...