Genetically Modified Organisms in Art

This particular piece of art is entitled De Natura rerum by French artist Goulet Olivier. Using colored pencil, pencil, and watercolor on paper, he depicts what he calls "un arbre à cerveaux", or a brain tree. The composition of this piece shows a tree that seems to be growing a variety of different brains as fruit. It appears that the "ripest" brains are located along the midsection of the tree's branches, wheres "wilting" brains are beneath them, and "flowering" or "blooming" brains can be seen at the top. Such a concept could possibly be contributed to Olivier's purpose of his artwork; here he expresses the convergence of technology within society and how human influence on natural organisms and systems, so to speak, has taken over the natural world. Humans have modified so much in the natural environment, that now it seems to be taking over. In this way, this piece reflects Olivier's artistic expression in what he believes to be the effects of genetically modified organisms. De Natura rerum can be connected to Oryx and Crake from two explicit scenes in the novel. Firstly, the scene where Jimmy's father came home to inform his wife and son of the success of implementing human brains in sheep can be represented by this artwork quite literally; the human brain is being used, or essentially grown, in places in nature where it should not be, proving that this is an issue of ethics. The scene where Snowman attempts to run away from the now environmentally-native pigoons that are stalking him in the abandoned compound also symbolizes the influence of the human intellect on otherwise unintelligent organisms; the pigoons were mentioned to be even smarter as if they had the capability of human thought and reason.