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Inventing a singular hybrid of illustrated scientific field notebooks, fine art monograph plates, laboratory research observations, and compelling surrealism, Julie Rauer has created a series of thirty-five drawings which form a cohesive book, the Barnacle Codex, structured around original drawings distilling barnacle physiology and function into lucid visual tools of scientific communication–graphically arresting color plates, each composed and designed as a unique work of fine art, fully integrating Charles Darwin’s eight years of little known research on barnacles. Working from original Darwin source material at the Science Industry and Business Library–literally hundreds of pages of rather inaccessible research and dry (no pun intended) lists–Julie has manifested the true complexity of the much maligned and little understood barnacle anew. Each plate is hand-lettered in original, aesthetically synchronous typefaces, designed to extend metaphors and enrich microcosms inherent in the individual drawings. A chimerical series of drawings transitioning into an unconventional book format that employs elucidation through specific analogies, the Barnacle Codex bridges the chasm between multiple disciplines: marine biology, human anatomy and physiology, botany, entomology, mycology, architecture, and mechanical engineering.
“We are eternally frustrated by art publishing houses concerns with the overly scientific nature of our projects, and science publishers inability to appreciate the artistic merits of these very same projects. As a result, in order to maintain the content of our work–in as genuine a manner as possible–we seek to circumvent this unnecessary process, of fruitless conversations regarding the production of unique manuscripts. Therefore, we have decided to undertake the publication of our book projects, ourselves.”
