SEXUAL SELECTION

which chronicled the identification and photographing of all 39 species of Birds of Paradise in New Guinea. The evolution of the different species has been based on “sexual selection” or the female’s preference and vantage point.

The plumage of the male birds is extraordinarily extreme in color, shape and structural design. Some of the feathers have evolved without efficiency and efficacy of flight as the dominant trait. Instead, the feathers have transformed into “ornaments of seduction” for their exotic courting rituals. The males are not monogamous; the female raises her young alone, therefore she scrupulously critiques potential mates to reproduce the “best” offspring.

In similar fashion, during Victorian times, humans used parasols to flirt, convey hidden feelings, preferences, love and interest. It was a secret communique of courtship.

For the Art League installation, the extravagantly colored brain MRI patterned umbrellas, (previously created for Parasol Project), were reshaped into three different silhouettes and suspended upside down from the oak branches in Art League’s Sculpture Garden. The viewers were surprised by the exotic colors, patterns and shapes peeking through the dense spring foliage as if they were viewing Birds-of Paradise in courting display.

Sexual Selection explored ideas of visual aesthetics, not as superfluous decoration, but having a direct relationship to form, function and evolution.

-Jo Ann Fleischhauer 2014