Aesthetic anatomy
Harald Kryvi’s prints hang spread throughout the campus. Most of the faculties have at least one of his pictures, which show anatomical sections of animals or humans, imaginatively aestheticized.
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Sometimes Kryvi depicts the whole animal, as in A giraffe peeks in, but as a rule the subject is vertebrae, nerves, or DNA molecules.
Ryggvirvlenes frihetsdag (Liberation of the Vertebrae) shows disjointed dorsal vertebrae as they seem to fly through the air. They are freed from their concatenated life inside the body, and fly jubilantly - but still in line - through a spacious, red golden room. They resemble fighter jets, or perhaps an insect swarm.
In A shoulder shrug, as well, we see parts of the body's interior unleashed. The motif is shoulder blades, and these are also in motion. Blue tones offer associations to something maritime; we can imagine that the bones are swimming through a deep ocean.
In the Department of Biology hangs a series of microscopic photographs, magnified prints in interesting colors. They show cross sections of nerves and other images of the interior. Through Kryvi’s eyes we see the beauty in these microscopic anatomical views.
Harald Kryvi (1944-) is professor of zoological anatomy at the Department of Biology, University of Bergen. In his spare time he uses his knowledge of animals and their insides as designs for etchings. In Kryvi’s work method, the colors are added at the end of the process. Initially, he conceives of the motifs in black and white, and it is only after the the printing plate is cut out and treated that he settles on one color theme. Since 1993 Kryvi has exhibited in a number of places in Norway, and at The National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa.
NORA SØRENSEN VAAGE
