Artist 3D-Prints Skeletal Self-Portrait

3D Printing & Imaging Craft & Design
Artist 3D-Prints Skeletal Self-Portrait

Dutch sculptor Caspar Berger is known for the series of self-portraits he’s made over the past few years. Most recently, for a piece aptly titled Skeleton, he’s used data from a CT scan of his body to 3D-print life-sized replicas of his bones in translucent resin, which he then used to make silicone molds to cast the bones in bronze, silver, and plaster.

From his site:

The self-portrait – or ‘mirror portrait’ (ritratto allo specchio) as the earlier Italian painters referred to it – is not a common genre in the history of sculpture. The reason that sculptors have rarely portrayed themselves is a prosaic one: for a long time they had no way of seeing themselves in three dimensions. … In Skeleton I have made use of the incredible possibilities to reveal the invisible that modern medical techniques offer, in order to make tangible what lies beneath the skin. I have had my entire body scanned using the very latest CT scanner, which can divide the body into cross-sections measuring just half a millimetre. The digital information reveals my bones individually.

Additionally, he sent his 3D-printed skull to a forensic anthropologist and only provided him with the knowledge that the skull belonged to a man in his mid-40s born in Western Europe. Through the fascinating clay layering process of facial reconstruction, Berger’s head was recreated, and the finished piece, named Self-portrait 21 is also part of the series (a not-so-self-made self-portrait).

YouTube player

[via Gizmag]

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I'm a word nerd who loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon. I was an editor on the first 40 volumes of MAKE, and I love shining light on the incredible makers in our community. In particular, covering art is my passion — after all, art is the first thing most of us ever made. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for untouched powder fields and ideal alpine lakes.

Contact me at snowgoli@gmail.com or via @snowgoli.

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