Say hello to the technicolor dream cadavers of Iori Tomita. By combining classical specimen preservation techniques with meticulous staining methods, the Japanese artists transforms fish, squid, turtles and even chameleons into a menagerie of multi-colored hell beasts. Go ahead and take a peek — you’ve never seen taxidermy like this.
The examples featured here all come from a series entitled “shinsekai [toumei hyouhon],” or “New World Transparent Specimens.”
Wired’s Liz Stinson describes Tomita’s process:
To produce the specimens… Tomita first removes the scales and skin of fish that have been preserved in formaldehyde. Next he soaks the creatures in a stain that dyes the cartilage blue. Tomita uses a digestive enzyme called trypsin, along with a host of other chemicals, to break down the proteins and muscles, halting the process just at the moment they become transparent but before they lose their form. The bones are then stained with red dye, and the brilliant beast is preserved in a jar of glycerin.
Tomita says it takes him five months to a year of meticulous chemical manipulation to prepare just one specimen — but the results, as you can plainly see, are utterly incredible.
Check out many more examples of Tomita’s work over on his website.
via These psychedelic animal specimens are unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
I object to hysterical terms like “a menagerie of multi-colored hell beasts”. What Tomita is showing us is the beauty and reality of internal biological architecture. This is only strange to those ignorant of comparative anatomy but we should all be able to respond to these images as we would to multicoloured pictures of a distant galaxy. Tomita is to be congratulated on his remarkable skill in preparing these fascinating specimens for study.