Artworks
Malamp: The Occurrence of Deformities in Amphibians
Brandon Ballengée
USA
Brandon Ballengée (USA). Malamp Reliquaries, 1996-ongoing. Unique IRIS prints on water-colour paper. 2003–07 Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NYC and Verbeke Galley, Antwerp
Malamp Reliquaries, 1996-ongoing
High-resolution scanner portraits of chemically cleared and stained specimens. Unique IRIS prints on water-colour paper. Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NYC and Verbeke Galley, Antwerp
Styx, 2010–12
Cleared and stained multi-limbed Pacific treefrogs / Hyla regilla collected from Aptos, California. In scientific collaboration with Dr. Stanley K. Sessions. Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NYC
For more than a decade, a central praxis of Brandon Ballengée’s primary biological research and subject of his artworks has been unraveling the mystery of developmental abnormalities among amphibians found in nature. Amphibians are important environmental indicators and populations globally have declined in recent years at alarming rates. As an artist and biologist, Ballengée has conducted this research internationally involving collaborations with numerous other researchers and hundreds of participating members of the public.
Biography
Brandon Ballengée (b. 1974, Sandusky, Ohio, USA) creates trans-disciplinary artworks inspired from his ecological field investigation and laboratory research. He has exhibited widely, including recent solo exhibitions at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts (New York), PAV Centro d'Arte Contemporanea (Turin) and The Royal Institution of Great Britain (London). His works have been included in several biennales and festivals including: Geumgang Nature Art Biennale (2004, South Korea); Venice Biennale (2005, Italy); Biennale for Electronic Arts Perth (2007, Australia); 3rd Moscow Biennale (2008, Russia); Transmediale 11 (2011, Germany); Prospect 2 New Orleans (2011, USA) and others. Three recent books have debuted on the Ballengée’s projects: Malamp: The Occurrence of Deformities in Amphibians (pub. Arts Catalyst & Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK); Praeter Naturam (pub. PAV Centro d'Arte Contemporanea, Italy); From Scales to Feathers. (pub. Lafayette College, USA, Shrewsbury Museum, UK & Verkebe Gallery, Belgium). He currently is co-founding an urban ecology laboratory in his Manhattan art studio and finalizing his PhD through a collaborative program between the University of Plymouth (UK) and the ZHDK (Switzerland).
