How strange we are. Recent exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery facilitate experiences that electronic media cannot quite replicate. A bizarre collection, “Visceral Bodies” accomplishes what contemporary art seems to be good at – unusual entries that ask questions, evoke emotion, and invite dialogue.

Helen Chadwick’s Nebula (1996) portrays photographs of embryos rejected in the process of in vitro fertilization, arranged as a jewelled necklace. The central feature, a bloodshot, cataracted eye, resulted from the artist’s discovery that embryos were rejected based on their irregular appearance. It “evokes both the visual discrimination used during IVF and the scientific quest to look deeper into the human body.”

Marc Quinn’s Early self portrait (2007), a pink marble sculpture of an alien-looking fetus in early gestation, “forces the viewer to confront his or her own strange beginnings.” His Carl Whittaker – Amiodarone, Aspirin, Ciclosporin (Heart Transplant) (2005) is of a man splayed, nakedly vulnerable, created from wax with the drugs that kept him alive after his heart transplant. This large sculpture “highlights our cultural dependence on science and medicine and questions what it means to be human.”

Hiroko Okada’s Future plan #2 (2003), features an enhanced photograph of smiling pregnant men. Wim Delvoye’s Erato (2002) is a large arrangement imitating stained cathedral windows, but patterned with x-rays of passionate kisses. Antony Gormley’s Drift II (2007) challenges spectators to look for human form in delicate metal polygons suspended in the air, cast from his body. Teresa Margolles’ Vaho (No. 1-3) (2006) and Sounds of the Morgue (2006) involves splashes from, and gruesome sounds of, an autopsy investigating the death of a victim of violent crime in Guadalajara.

The exhibition is an unusual contemporary exploration of the relevancy of human form. Yet, coinciding with the 2010 Olympics, the VAG is simultaneously showing Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Mechanics of Man,” the artist’s famous anatomical sketches borrowed from Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Collection.
How beautiful we are. Anatomical Manuscript A is an incredible collection of timelessly accurate sketches on eighteen sheets, including the first accurate depictions of bone and musculature in the spinal column, hands, and feet. Enlargements of the sketches and translations of his notes adorn the VAG walls, depicting an artist and scientist viewing the human body as both engineer and soul-seeker.

The viewer enters Leonardo’s world, trying to make sense of the form and function of the bloody bodies, the carnal cadavers depicted in his illustrations. They feature incredibly unmatched detail born 500 years ago, in the winter of 1510-1511. One cannot help but acknowledge the fascinating complexity of the human body, more wondrous as it is mapped, more remarkable as it is revealed.

Who and what are we? “Visceral Bodies” and “The Mechanics of Man” are distinctly different exhibitions with seemingly similar intent: an exploration of our identity – of searching for the truth of what we are made of, what defines us, and what holds us together.

How strange we are, yet how beautiful.

“Mechanics of Man” remains at the VAG until May 2, “Visceral Bodies” until May 16. Student admission is $13, by-donation admission on Tuesday evenings from 5:30-9:00 p.m. starting March 23.