Keith Thompson
, exhibited at Edinburgh Printmakers 21 October - 18 November 2000.
Keith Thompson
lives in his home city of Edinburgh, famed in the 19th century for its
advances in medical science and the study of the human anatomy.
Keith continues this tradition of anatomical inquiry by creating the
human form through screenprints on glass. Life size heads, hands and
feet are virtually constructed from multiple sheets of glass illuminated
in light boxes that preserve the limbs for posterity.
The starting point for this exhibition was The Visible Human Project
internet site. This is a collaboration between a convict on Amercia’s
death row and medical researchers, resulting in an extraordinary study
of the human body. After his execution, the convicts body was frozen
and dissected in wafer thin slices from head to toe. An image of each
slice can be viewed or downloaded from this web site. When animated
they represent a unique journey through the body.
Using these elements as a starting point, Keith has reconstructed his
own limbs, as well as those of the convict. These 3D multi layered works
are strangely and eerily reminiscent of medical specimens, whilst the
new 2D layed print works remind us of x-ray, scans and forensic reconstructions.
Keith says “It struck me that the unnamed man, aware of his impending
death was probably less concerned with advancing medical research but
rather with achieving some form of immortality”.
