{{Short description|Naturalist and artist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Christopher Marley | image = | birth_place = Covina, California | alma_mater = Brigham Young University | occupation = Artist, photographer, naturalist, author | notable_works = {{ubl| ''Pheromone: The Insect Artwork of Christopher Marley'' | ''Biophilia'' | ''Exquisite Creatures''}} | movement = Biophilia | website = {{URL|https://christophermarley.com/}} | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|1|7}} }}
'''Christopher Marley''' (born 1969) is an artist, photographer, naturalist, and author who uses natural artifacts as his artistic medium. He is best known initially for his book ''Biophilia'', and then for the traveling exhibit ''Exquisite Creatures'' that features his art.
== Background == Marley was born in Covina, California and raised in Salem, Oregon.<ref name="www.nhbs.com" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Mercier |first=Mickey |date=2024-03-26 |title="Exquisite Creatures" Challenge Art |url=https://reviews.newhavenindependent.org/reviews/exquisite_creatures_challenge_art_at_crystal_bridges |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323220113/https://reviews.newhavenindependent.org/reviews/exquisite_creatures_challenge_art_at_crystal |archive-date=2025-03-23 |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=Independent Review Crew}}</ref> Growing up, Marley was a reptile enthusiast.<ref name="Tonthat2019" /> From his earliest memories, Marley was always drawing, and most often his subject was monsters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pedersen |first=Alex |date=2016-10-09 |title=Creators – Christopher Marley |url=https://artthescience.com/magazine/2016/10/09/creators-christopher-marley/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Polyfield Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> His father was an aviarist and breeder of rare color mutations of Australian parrots.<ref name="Scott2018">{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=Aaron |date=2018-01-06 |title=Christopher Marley's Dead Things |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/06/576197801/christopher-marleys-dead-things |access-date=2024-02-23 |work=NPR}}</ref> Marley served as a missionary in the Atacama Desert in Chile for two years at 19 years old. After this, he studied design at Brigham Young University. During university, he took sabbaticals to work with fashion brands such as Donna Karan, Gucci, Nike, and Giorgio Armani.<ref name="www.nhbs.com">{{Cite web |title=Pheromone: The Insect Artwork of Christopher Marley |url=https://www.nhbs.com/pheromone-the-insect-artwork-of-christopher-marley-book |url-status=dead |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=www.nhbs.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="Scott2015">{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Aaron |date=2015-12-11 |title=Oregon Artist Finds Beauty In Dead Insects (And Snakes And Birds) |url=https://www.opb.org/artsandlife/article/eye-popping-art-made-from-iridescent-insects-poisonous-snakes-and-color-drunk-parrots/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=OPB |language=en}}</ref>
== Inspiration == Marley long considered insects the "parasites of nature".<ref name="Cercle2015">{{Cite web |last=Cercle |first=Maxime |date=2015-06-23 |title=The symmetries of Christopher Marley |url=https://www.cerclemagazine.com/en/magazine/articles-magazine/the-symmetries-of-christopher-marley/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Cercle |language=en-GB}}</ref> To cope with an insect phobia while traveling as a model to exotic places (like South Africa, Borneo, China, and Peru),<ref name="Tonthat2019" /> he collected bugs for exposure therapy.<ref name="Scott2015" /> Marley reflected on the benefits he's gained from interacting with the natural world, and chose to share this realization with others. In 1998, Marley started to arrange his bug collection using a design and beauty perspective after visiting a mansion in South Africa with nature integrated throughout it.<ref name="Scott2015" /> Marley's fiancé convinced him to take early works to boutiques in Beverly Hills, where eight out of initial ten stores he approached wanted to sell his works.<ref name="Scott2018" /><ref name="Scott2015" />
== Artistic medium == thumb|Book cover for Marley's book Biophilia.|238x238px Marley's works feature animals, insects, fossils, minerals, botanicals, bones, and sea life.<ref name="www.nhbs.com" /> The animals, minerals, and other animal artifacts featured in his works are typically set in frames with white backgrounds.<ref name="Scott2018" /> Marley's work contrasts traditional taxidermy by preserving the entire organism, not just the skin.<ref name="Scott2015" /> Animals and insects he has featured in his works include: pythons, venomous reptiles, green mambas, Gaboon vipers, Canebreak rattle snakes, ''Chrysochus'' beetles,<ref name="Gambino">{{Cite web |last=Gambino |first=Megan |title=10 Gorgeous Mosaics Made From Real Animal Specimens |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/10-gorgeous-mosaics-made-from-real-animal-specimens-180954976/ |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> stag beetles,<ref name="Gambino" /> Delias bufferflies,<ref name="Gambino" /> Eupholus weevils,<ref name="Gambino" /> baby alligators, mustached parakeets, great blue turacos, military macaws, and Boa constrictors.<ref name="Scott2015" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Stayner |first=McKenna |date=2015-03-30 |title=Slide Show: The Right Stuff |url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/slide-show-christopher-marley-biophilia-right-stuff |access-date=2024-02-23 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>
Marley's artistic philosophy is motivated by aesthetics, telling scientific stories of biological diversity, and focusing on either one or two features in the mosaic for the general public to better receive.<ref name="Gambino" />
While abiding by local municipalities and their regulations, Marley has developed a network of zoos, aquariums, catchers, lepidopterists, coleopterists, entomologists, and breeders to legally supply him with animal artifacts to be used in his work.<ref name="Tonthat2019" /><ref name="Scott2015" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Teicher |first=Jordan G. |date=2015-04-06 |title=Bringing Elegance and Order to the Chaos of Nature |url=https://slate.com/culture/2015/04/christopher-marley-photographs-the-natural-world-in-his-book-biophilia.html |access-date=2024-02-23 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339}}</ref> Notably, he doesn't buy specimens from hunters, and uses reclaimed specimens that have been caught as fishing bycatch or died by natural causes. He has also developed a novel freeze-drying method to preserve the animals, which contrasts the typical method of preserving animals in liquid.<ref name="Scott2018" /><ref name="Aaron2018">{{Cite news |last=Aaron |first=Scott |date=2018-01-15 |title=Oregon Artist Turns Dead Creatures Into Beautiful Compositions |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/15/576566280/oregon-artist-turns-dead-creatures-into-beautiful-compositions |access-date=2024-02-23 |work=NPR}}</ref> The insects shown in Marley's works are harvested by indigenous communities and sold to help support the local economies.<ref name="Hale2019" />
== Exquisite Creatures exhibition == Marley developed a traveling exhibit of his artwork using preserved animal specimens from places such as Tanzania and Cambodia.<ref name="Simon2021">{{Cite web |last=Simon |first=Rachel |date=2021-12-01 |title=The 'Exquisite Creatures' Exhibition Lives Up to Its Name |url=http://indyweek.com/culture/art/exquisite-creatures-exhibit/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=INDY Week |language=en-US}}</ref> The exhibit has traveled to museums such as North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences,<ref name="Simon2021" /> Oregon Museum of Science and Industry,<ref name="Hale2019">{{Cite web |last=Hale |first=Jamie |date=2019-11-03 |title=Creepy creatures turn 'Exquisite' at new OMSI art exhibit |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2019/11/creepy-creatures-turn-exquisite-at-new-omsi-art-exhibit.html |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=OregonLive |language=en}}</ref> and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.<ref name="Magazine2017">{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=L'Etage |date=2017-12-06 |title=Christopher Marley Opens 20,000 Square Foot Exhibition " Biophilia – A Dialogue with Art, Nature and Science" |url=https://letagemagazine.com/christopher-marley-opens-20000-square-foot-exhibition-biophilia-dialogue-art-nature-science/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=L'Etage Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Impact == thumb|Example of Nike's Zoom Superfly Elite shoes, showcasing the final design during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio that were inspired by Christopher Marley's work of the Sagra buqueti beetle. Alongside its collection of the oldest collection of insects in the new world, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University has featured Marley's insect work.<ref name="Scott2015" />
For the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, former Nike CEO Mark Parker collaborated with Marley to develop an iridescent shoe inspired by Marley's work of the Sagra buqueti beetle.<ref name="Scott2015" />
In September 2017, Marley established Pheromone Asia Studio in Beijing. This allows legal import of insect specimens into China, which was the entity to do so.<ref name="Magazine2017" />
Marley's work is also used to inspire youth. A university biology professor at the University of Notre Dame uses Marley's works to inspire his undergraduate biology students.<ref name="Scott2018" />
== Reception == Marley's works are generally received with positive reviews. Curator Melanie Johannson of the Cornell Art Museum says, "You’re seeing the beauty of something and appreciating it in a different way than you would if it were alive and it were crawling around".<ref name="Scott2015" /> Additionally, a curatorial assistant at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University's department of entomology shares, "[Marley] has really been an emissary to show how beautiful the natural world is."<ref name="Scott2015" /> From a youth perspective, a teacher from a charter school in Portland, Oregon took his students to Marley's ''Exquisite Creatures'' exhibit and reports that, "This is the highest level of engagement I've had of any field trip that I've done like this, to museum exhibits, that I've ever done".<ref name="Tonthat2019">{{Cite web |last=Tonthat |first=Steven |date=2019-01-30 |title=Christopher Marley Turns 'Exquisite Creatures' Into Art |url=https://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregon-art-beat/article/christopher-marley-art-animals-exquisite-creatures/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=OPB |language=en}}</ref> With regards to influencing product design, former Nike CEO Mark Parker says, "Chris' subject matter and imagery have inspired Nike's design work on color and texture, on high-performance track spikes for Olympic athletes and even new interpretations of classic styles, like the Nike Air Max."<ref name="Aaron2018" />
== Personal life == Marley currently lives in Salem, Oregon.<ref name="Cercle2015" /> He has a 10,000-square-foot studio warehouse outside the city of Salem.<ref name="Scott2015" />
== Publications ==
* {{Cite book |last=Marley |first=Christopher |title=Pheromone: The Insect Artwork of Christopher Marley |date=September 1, 2008 |publisher=Pomegranate Communications |isbn=978-0764946196}} * {{Cite book |last=Marley |first=Christopher |title=Biophilia |date=April 14, 2015 |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |isbn=978-1419715617}} * {{Cite book |last=Marley |first=Christopher |title=Exquisite Creatures: A Dialogue with Art, Nature, and Science |date=January 1, 2023 |publisher=Christopher Marley Studio |isbn=979-8986360805}}
==References== {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Marley, Christopher}}
Category:1969 births
Category:Living people Category:American naturalists Category:People from Covina, California Category:American photographers Category:Artists from Oregon Category:Brigham Young University alumni
{{improve categories|date=February 2024}}