A Pox IN All Your Houses

Who knew smallpox could be so beautiful? Sculptor Luke Jerram did. His series of diseases rendered in blown glass are marvelous little reinterpretations of what plagues us

(Smallpox, untitled mutation, HIV)

Created after lengthy consultation with virologists, disease models, and text book images, these clear wonders allow you to put your decorative money where your foot and mouth disease is

 (Foot and Mouth Disease)

But is this art once again forcing us to examine what makes us squeamish or is this flagrant? After all we've always used art as a way to process and express what's scary and foreign to us. In this case it's foreign bacteria and viruses.

My only quip is the E.coli look like something Delia Deetz would have sculpted

(E.coli happens)

Jerram’s sculptures go on display February 1st 

at the National Centre for Craft and Design in the U.K.