With a 3D scan of his face and a CT scan of his skull, renowned 3D print artist Joshua Harker created a portrait for the 21st Century. The work aims to juxtapose newfound reaches of our vision, discovery and technology against our vulnerability, privacy and humanity. The interlaced filigree print had its first exhibit debut at the 3D PrintShow in New York from February 12th to the 15th. Harker’s latest 3D print means to underscore the increasing digital disconnect from the physical world and our reexamination of reality. These ambitious goals are available for customization and purchase through the Uformit mass customization marketplace.
Through Uformit, a customer can download a scan of their face and adjust the original model by Harker to a customized self-portrait. While the portrait takes the form of a mask, it utilizes the unique design and the process developed specifically for this piece by Harker. For the digital process and application of 3D facial reconstructions from CT and other scanning data, Harker employs three techniques: Gatliff/Snow American Tissue Depth Method (developed by Ms. Betty Pat. Gatliff and Dr. Clyde Snow), the Manchester Method (adapted from Mikhail Gerasimov’s anatomical musculature approach), and Karen T. Taylor’s 2-dimensional reconstruction technique.
An intricate design forms a kind of exoskeleton portrait that forms to a specific face and skull. In effect, the mask is a new face, a 3D projection of William Morris-like detail and repetitions. The face is at once your face and a mask. The complicated nature of the design coupled with the formation of the mask with mapping and scanning creates the juxtaposition Harker seeks.
Interestingly, the design evokes an essential yet hidden form of the face. Our capillaries running throughout our body, and our head are tiny thread-like interlaced networkings behind the scenes of our skin. With Harker’s design, the filigree appears as white veins coursing over the face, what was inside now open for all to see, yet it is devoid of hue. In its beauty, there is a somewhat disturbing blankness in the portrait that fits perfectly as a personalized mask. Harker has produced a special work that simultaneously pulls in the audience to seek a closer look and see something aesthetically ornate and pretty while leaving so much more hidden, behind the 3D printed personalized mask.
