Skin is the new canvas

I've been lying on the couch for the past couple of days with a thick ankle, so all the time in the world to check out The Net endlessly. That's how I came across this interesting find on Etsy (I looooove Etsy!):



It's called 'Piece of yourself', by MadamEdgar. Besides remembering me of the 'hobby' a friend and I had in high school (we collected our own nails, hairs, and blood, and filled little oh so romantic (...) friend boxes with it), it also made me aware again that more and more artists share an interest in skin. Here are some examples, some of which you probably already recognise, since they are not new, but also some of new and emerging Dutch artists (go see their work!):

The electronic tattoo, by the Philips Design Probe team




Carskin, by Olaf Mooij:



A work of which I don't know the name, by Peter Zwaan (I took the picture last week at science festival Discovery10 in Amsterdam , and you can't see it really well, but there are hairs growing out of the 'apple'):



Body modification for love (clone your lover's nipple and transplant it to your own body) by Michiko Nitta (www.myportfolio.me.uk/):



And 'Game Boys' from an artist I really admire for the way she makes us all philosophers, Patricia Piccinini (Patricia Piccinini, Game Boys Advanced, 2002 (detail.) Image Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Copyright Patricia Piccinini):