Butterfly in the Brain, 2002, series of inkjet prints, each 13¼ x13 ¾”, 
Courtesy Universal Concepts Unlimited, NYC 

SUZANNE ANKER

The Butterfly in the Brain series continues Anker’s investigation into the visualizing techniques available through high technology simulation, such as the microscope and the telescope. This work focuses on a dialogue of signs within the symmetrical (or virtually symmetrical) structures of the butterfly and the brain, both of which possess an axis copy. Using neurological maps as well as charts of urban sprawl, Anker plots the shape of a butterfly in each pattern. Constellations emerge from these distinct models calling into question the ways in which biological form is replicated in the cultural domain.

Suzanne Anker is a visual artist and theoretician working with genetic imagery. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally at museums including the Getty Museum , the Walker Arts Center , the Smithsonian Institute, the Philips Collection, PS 1, the Stadkunst in Koln , and the Museum of Modern Art in Japan .  Her writings have appeared in Art Journal, Teme Celeste, and Leonardo. In 1994 she curated Gene Culture: Molecular Metaphor in Contemporary Art at Fordam University , the first exhibition devoted entirely to the intersection of art and genetics. She has hosted and participated in numerous panel discussions, and has been a visiting artist and scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Washington University in St. Louis. She currently teaches art history and theory at the School of Visual Arts in NYC where she is chair. Universal Concepts Unlimited in NYC represents her work.