Dr. Greg Dunn in Collaboration with Dr. Brian Edwards

Courtesy of the artist

Chaotic Connectome is the first microetching ever produced. It is of an abstract neural landscape designed to highlight the complexity of the neural circuitry, or connectome, of the human brain. The artists developed the reflective microetching technique for this piece, microscopically etching 22K gold surface to directionally reflect light. By splitting up the complexity of the image across reflective “channels,” the viewer can better appreciate this complexity as it evolves as they move around the artwork.

Microetchings are handmade lithographs that manipulate light on a microscopic scale to control the reflectivity of metallic surfaces in precise ways. These techniques were invented by Dr. Greg Dunn and his colleague Dr. Brian Edwards in order to change the way in which the viewer experiences a painting.

The color of the illuminating lights dictates the dynamic color effects in microetchings, thus they can be lit in literally millions of different color combinations to suit the viewer’s taste. Microetchings are designed to evolve based on the moving perspective of the viewer and are impossible to capture in still images. 

Please note that these microetchings are designed to evolve based on the moving perspective of the viewer and are impossible to capture in still images.