Tardigrades Rampant
© Bruce Carleton 2019
The September show at the Beatnik Lounge in Joshua Tree CA is entitled “Survival is Insufficient: Art After the Apocalypse.“ The idea for this piece that was done for it arose from a conversation with Deborah Tobin. Naturally tardigrades — who might well be the only survivors of an extinction event (along with the bacteria they like to eat) — came up. She thought it would be nice to have a banner with a tardigrade on it at the show. I don’t do banners, but a coat of arms seemed appropriate. Here is the drawing, along with the framed piece to go on the wall, and a picture of me tickling a tardigrade.
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Subtext on the frame:
“Upon their acendency [sic], the tardigrades will need a coat of arms, complete with escutcheon and motto. I have taken it upon myself to provide them with one. Tardigrades, a.k.a. water bears, a.k.a. moss piglets, were first described by zoologist Johann August Spallanzani in 1777. He named them “tardigrada,” which means “slow steppers.” Their motto, which they share with Emperor Augustus, Cosimo I de’Medici, et alia, is FESTINA LENTE: “make haste slowly.”