Art Forms in Nature 8 1928

Karl Blossfeldt made this photograph, "Art Forms in Nature 8," sometime between the late 1800s and early 1930s. He zooms in on plant forms, bringing out these towers and soft, hairy buds in stark black and white. You know, I can just imagine him peering through the lens, maybe early in the morning, waiting for the light. It's so interesting how he frames the plants against a flat background, turning them into almost abstract shapes, or maybe architectural studies. I see Blossfeldt as part of a lineage of artists looking closely at the world, trying to understand the patterns and structures that connect everything. He’s also in conversation with people like Hilma af Klint, who was finding hidden orders in nature, and even contemporary photographers who are still fascinated by the intersection of science and art. Each one builds upon the others' way of seeing.