Mauro Perucchetti, Jelly Baby 3, 2004, Polyurethane 9 of 9

Those with a sweet tooth may be somewhat disappointed to learn that this jelly baby is not edible.

It is, instead, a polyurethane exhibit at the Wellcome Collection on the Euston Road in London.

The full blurb from the exhibit:

“Perucchetti works in polyurethane, a notoriously difficult resin made of many small, unstable urethane molecules in long chains.  He creates works that are water clear, strong and last forever.  On one level, this work uses the jelly baby as a metaphor for cloned humans, which are identical to one another yet potentially not like other humans.  On another level, it speaks to our increasing tendency to see human beings as chemical assemblages that temporarily stabilise the bases of DNA into long, durable and comprehensible chains for the duration of our lives”.

I always feel bad biting the head off a jelly baby, so I was happy to find one that can resist attack and last forever!

The Wellcome Collection is a free visitor destination “for the incurably curious”. Established under Sir Henry Wellcome’s will in 1936, the Wellcome Trust is now the world’s largest independent charitable foundation funding research into human and animal health, it explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future. In addition to its exhibitions and collections, it has a café, a bookshop and well-respected library.

Sorry to disappoint, but most of the collections are closed for the winter for renovation.  Hopefully, the new facilities will be worth the wait.

Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE

However, there are opportunities to see Perucchetti’s work elsewhere.  There is a whole family of jelly babies on permanent display in Singapore and his work is often on show around the world.  Check out his website for up-to-date information.

Jelly Baby Family, Singapore. Photo © Mario Perucchetti

Linked to Pink Saturday.