Bethany Pipkin
Mundane Elucidation #11
Digitally Altered Scanning Electron Micrograph
2023
Mundane Elucidation #11 is made with the Scanning Electron Microscope, a scientific tool. The resulting microscope scans are then manipulated digitally to give imagination to the unobservable, both scientific and spiritual.
Art and Science both maintain a close relationship with observation. The scientific process is used to translate hypotheses into theories while the artistic process involves communicating visual information to imbue meaning to a subject. Bethany Pipkin is a drawer, painter, and digital artist who uses the tools of science to translate the unperceivable into the tangible.
Most of her newest artworks are produced by digitally manipulating Scanning Electron Micrographs into forms that mimic those of sacred geometry. Some works are digital in nature, manipulating the micrograph directly. Other artworks are drawings, using source material from microscopy combined with imagined forms to dissect grief, wonder, and other hidden, unobservable realities.
Pipkin describes making this work as an act of pondering whether we can ever really discern the mysteries of the obscure and an acknowledgement that even the mundane is exquisitely intricate – much beyond what technology can visualize or our brains can decipher.
