The Blog

I didn’t realize this book was on shelves already! I’m pleased to share with you that The Where, the Why, and the How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science is now available for purchase (or perusing). Published by Chronicle Books, authors Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman, David Macaulay and Matt Lamothe commissioned over 50 scientists and 75 artists to come together to illustrate and explain some of science’s biggest mysteries. In Julia Rothman’s words:

The book has 75 essays by real working scientists (physicists, anthropologists, psychologists, meteorologists, doctors…) who explore unproven questions in science. They explain the theories behind mysteries like: What came before the big bang? Why do we blush? Can cells talk to each other? What is dark matter? Why do pigeons bob their heads when they walk? and also sorts of other interesting questions about our universe, the Earth, animals and humans. Then we gave those essays to illustrators, fine artists, designers and cartoonists to create their own visual representation of the answer.

I was one of the contributing artists. The scientist I collaborated with had to answer the question: “Why do placebos work?” Based on his answer (and my own imagination) I came up with this image:

In case you can’t tell, that’s an elephant holding a feather in its trunk and flying à la Dumbo and the “magic” crow’s feather. Talk about placebo.

I really like how this piece came out. Looking forward to seeing it in print.

Tweet