IRRLÆUFER

With “Upper Jaw after William Cheselden“, IRRLÆUFER directly references the anatomical studies of the British surgeon and anatomist William Cheselden (1688–1752), whose precise depictions of human anatomy were considered revolutionary in the 18th century. Cheselden combined medical accuracy with an aesthetic that made the body’s interior comprehensible not only as an object of science but also as a terrain of artistic exploration.

IRRLÆUFER takes up this connection between science and art and translates it into a contemporary reflection on perception and transience. The fragmented upper jaw, rendered in fine lines and a pinkish ink tone, appears both objective and poetic. The structure of the bone becomes ornament, the medical study a vanitas motif.

“Upper Jaw after William Cheselden” is thus a dialogue between enlightenment and mortality—a silent homage to the origins of anatomical art.

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