This article is about the artist Hubert Duprat and his unique, but fascinating artistic experimentation. Hubert performed an experiment with a group of caddis fly larvae. They are small little bugs that can be closely related to butterflies. They live near water and produce larvae like any other bug. These larvae are unique in themselves because they protect themselves by forming a casing around their bodies with whatever material is available to them. These resourceful insects are found to be very adaptable to their surroundings.
Hubert Duprat was intrigued by these little creatures and decided to perform a test. He captured some of these flies and waited until they produced larvae. He then put them in a controlled surrounding. In this environment he provided the bugs with many different kinds of materials to see what they could create. He first started with small pieces of gold and eventually added precious stones which include; turquoise, opals, lapis lazuli, coral, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and even diamonds. The larvae began to make magnificent looking shells with all these different materials. These expensive larvae shells can be considered contemporary artwork because this experiment only took place 28 years ago. Even though the caddis larvae created the beautiful "jewels", Duprat can be given much credit. He is considered, by me, a very intelligent and creative artist for even thinking of this idea. He has to be an intelligent man if he knew so much about something so little.
These "pieces of art" , in my eyes, wouldn't be considered an international or domestic artwork but a natural one. Even though this is not a completely natural event all the materials used in the experiment were. I think this is a very cool form of art and it make me wonder if any other bugs would do the same thing. It would be very interesting to see what kind of things different bugs could create. There are many different ways to create artwork and everyday more and more ways are invented and thought up. Anything that is created by someone that has meaning, looks fascinating, is appreciated, or raises different thoughts, questions, and interpretations is considered art.
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Matt -
Nice, engaged description here. Your appreciation of Duprat and his process is evident in your description.
And you raise interesting ideas, maybe around always fraught issues of labeling. One such issue is the idea of authorship. Can we understand these "jewels" to be by the larvae, by Duprat, or a collaboration of the two? Also, how do we understand these "jewels" to be art? Are they are the way starfish are art, spiderwebs are art? Or is it Duprat's intervention that makes them so.
You conclude with a definition of art, which I'd like to hear how Duprat's pieces - which sound like art to me -- demonstrate. How do they, to you, have "meaning"? What thoughts do they raise - about concept? Questions like those I have above?
Thanks for selecting on commenting on this piece. I'd like to hear you comment more, approach more intensely some of the issues your raise. But I like the appreciative wondering here, and the starts at consideration.
Again- thanks for sharing this.
Carl
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