Fragments from Utilis Planta
2011
Ink & Watercolor
Use the link below for a full description of each illustrations from this series.
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This body of work suggests a remarkable, highly imaginable representation of the fauna which may very well live among us. All of the plants in this series exist in the world Scott Goergens created in a series which will span at least three illustrated young-adult novels that follow Gordon Harold Grimsby, a 13 - year old boy who happens upon the remarkable world that hides from us all. Over a thousand years ago a botanical compendium entitled Utilis Planta was written and illustrated by an unknown author. The book was later discovered in the 1400s, by a little known man named Mellyle Asquith. The book was in the private collection of a wealthy collector that we know even less about, who called himself Anton Vision, but there is no written record of his existence (only word of mouth). While perusing Anton’s library, Mellyle found the volume and marveled at the beautiful and never before seen plants it contained, but more importantly, what they were said to be able to do. Upon being asked about the book, Anton denied knowing anything about it and shortly thereafter, it had been removed from the library and never seen again. Vision disappeared within days, just as mysteriously. Mellyle who was so intrigued by what he saw, copied much of the work by hand, from memory. Known as the U. P. Asquith Interpretation, Mellyle prized the book and allowed only a few close friends to view it. Later, both Mellyle and his interpretation came up missing. Fortunately again, over the years, word spread about this book by those friends of Mellyle, that had seen his interpretation. This series of prints shows some of the illustrations of the fantastic and fabled plants from that copied text and an accompanying description of each plant and its use. These are only memories of memories, which had been lost, then passed down verbally, and now this is the first time they have been illustrated and described in hundreds of years, and only the third time they have been physically documented. All of the plants described in this series have never been seen before and many question if they ever even existed. For now, they shall remain categorized under Cryptobotany. | ||
