Nicholas Mittman- Bacterial Cellulose


Nicholas Mittman, Interdisciplinary Sculpture, 2027

Interdisciplinary Sculpture major at MICA. Originally transferred from Harford Community College; Nicholas enjoys working with mediums such as Charcoal, pen & ink, and wood to create pieces that depict the themes of horror. His fascination to explore the unconventional side of art has led to him expanding his practice with biomaterial as a new medium.


Project Overview

For this project I wanted to make a piece that focused on the idea of how we grew skin by making a piece about a guy ripping his skin off..



Process

the images from left to right show the process of growth, decontamination, and curing. Originally starting as a small pellicle that could only fit inside a test tube I grew the culture into the size of a small bucket. Unfortunately that bucket became contaminated with mold and fungus so I had to soak the cellulose in 2% NaOH for like a whole week. After decontaminating the pellicle I discovered that there were some bacteria that ate through the cellulose, which can be seen in image 3. I then cured the piece in glycerol to emphasize that skin look and feel and cut the piece into strips. I then stapled those stripes to a small upper body of a skeleton to make it look like it was pulling off its flesh.



Learn More

nmittman_art on Instagram