Creating Beautiful X-Ray Flower Art
Operating an x-ray machine isn’t the easiest task. But if you have the patience and an understanding of flowers, then you can create beautiful botanical radiographs.
Unlike conventional photographs, these images capture the inner structures of petals and leaves. They serve as a bridge between art and science, showcasing the inherent beauty of nature.
Mathew Schwartz
Using a micro-CT scanner, Mathew Schwartz has created mesmerizing xray flower art that capture the inherent beauty and complexity of nature. Schwartz’s work has been a huge hit in both the artistic and scientific communities, showcasing a unique way of exploring the inner workings of plants.
Schwartz is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s New York office and a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice Groups. He represents public and private companies in connection with mergers, acquisitions, and financing transactions. He also advises on corporate governance matters and general business issues.
X-rays may be the most familiar imaging technology for many of us, but there are ways that we can make them more beautiful and intriguing. For instance, artist Steven Meyers has framed x-ray images of flowers and turned them into pieces of art. His works are both simple and elegant, with an ethereal glow that draws the viewer in. They are also available in classic black and white.
Dain L. Tasker
Unlike other flower artists that focus on pastel colors, Dain L. Tasker used black and white to create his xray flower art. These vintage gelatin prints reveal the skeletal structure of flowers with a simple yet intimate sensibility. His radiographs capture a variety of flower species, including roses, calla lilies, magnolias, lotuses and columbine.
Tasker was chief radiologist at Wilshire Hospital during the era of Pictorial photography, and became familiar with the use of x-ray imaging. He was also interested in recording plants and animals in their natural environment. His work helped him develop a unique style that combined science and art.
In contrast to photographers like Imogen Cunningham who depicted flower’s in bold representations, Tasker reduced the form of the iris and the philodendron to its bare essentials. These minimalist images were created in the 1930’s and 1940’s. His work was exhibited in national photography shows and published in several magazine articles. Tasker’s wife Olive Frauenberger donated the collection of 385 x-ray films and 245 prints to the Smithsonian in 1966.
Albert Richards
Using a unique technique, Richards creates his art on museum quality archival Chromogenic prints and mounted on Di-bond with polished Perspex. This contrasts with the dark X-ray and brings it to life. He also makes his X-rays into lenticular portraits, which are especially striking.
He is fascinated by the beauty of organic forms and their inner workings. He delves into a subject and reveals all aspects of it, including the hidden and forgotten parts that make up its whole. His revealing technique is a new way to explore delicate plants and other organisms without damaging them.
While he was not a professional artist, Richards’ work became famous in postwar Britain. He was Britain’s youngest official war artist, and captured the aftermath of D-Day, such as the assault on the Merville Battery and the capture of Le Plein village. His paintings also showed the destruction of bridges and roadside camouflage screens. He was also the first person to use a portable X-ray machine in the field of dental radiology.
Steven Meyers
Steven Meyers is a Christian scientist and intelligent design advocate. He graduated with physics and earth sciences degrees from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. He worked as a geophysicist for the Atlantic Richfield Company in Dallas before studying History of Science and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University in England. He has appeared on television and in public forums advocating intelligent design.
In 1997, he began experimenting with floral radiographs as an art form. While this art-form has existed for 70 years, it was virtually unexplored until Meyers discovered the technique. He has since created more than 3000 images.
Using his medical x-ray machine, Meyers captures the shapes, structures, and patterns of flowers that are invisible to the human eye. He then creates a unique fusion image by overlaying the x-ray photo with a visible light photograph. He uses different color shades to emphasize the dark and light areas of the flower. He prints negative, positive, and solarized prints of the resulting photographs.
