Recent advances in developmental biology allow interference with normal developmental programs, thus making possible the creation of novel live organisms. It is common in scientific laboratories to generate animals with characteristics that were never seen before in Nature. My work explores this potential in order to create adult live butterflies with wing patterns modified for artistic purposes. Although the pattern is artificially determined, it is made of normal live cells—an example of something simultaneously entirely natural, but not designed by nature.

In Nature? I have only modified the pattern of one wing of Bicyclus and Heliconius butterflies. As a consequence, all these butterflies have simultaneously one wing with the natural design and another one with my design. Through this asymmetry, I have tried to emphasise the similarities and differences between the unmanipulated and manipulated, between the natural and the novel natural.

I have been trying to express concepts in the butterfly wings that deal with our perception of shapes. By adding, changing or deleting eyespots and colour patches it is possible for our imagination to identify shapes and rhythms familiar to our senses. Another approach includes the highlighting of particular aspects of the natural wing —for example, the removal of the outer rings of an eyespot to show simply the white centre of it. I do not have the intention of enhancing in any way Nature’s design. Nor do I intend to make something already beautiful even more beautiful. I simply aim to explore the possibilities and constraints of the biological system, creating (inasmuch as it is possible) different patterns that are not the result of an evolutionary process. It has also been my intention to create unique butterflies. The changes are not at the genetic level, and the germline is left untouched. As a consequence, the induced modifications are not transmitted to the offspring. Each modified butterfly is different from any other. The new patterns are something never seen in Nature before, and quickly disappear from Nature not to be seen again. This form of art has a life span— the life span of a butterfly. It is a form of art that literally lives and dies. It is simultaneously art and life. Art and Biology.

Work performed at the Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, Leiden University, The Netherlands.