Here’s an interesting piece of art for Biology buffs – a frog dissection diorama made almost entirely out of Lego.
When I saw the thumbnail of this piece of art, I was certain it was a designer cake. I figured that it wouldn’t be too difficult to handle examining it, since it was just made of delicious green fondant and possibly, red velvet cake.
Upon closer inspection, I realized that what I took to be frosting was actually Lego; lots and lots of fiddly bits of Lego. Somehow, Lego is a lot more sinister than I expected, especially when it takes on such a clinical form.
All grossness aside, this is quite a feat in design. Dave Kaleta, the designer, used so many pieces that I never even knew existed. Taking a look inside the specimen, it’s clear that the pieces that make up the various organs definitely didn’t come with the standard bucket of bright yellow, red, and blue Lego that we had as kids.
There are a few things that are not made of lego, but they’re not exactly crucial to the design, though they certainly make it look more interesting. The first is the frog’s stretched-open skin – three layers of it – made of what looks like tissue paper. It really opens up the figure, like a very morbid sort of picture frame or display base.
Froggy’s arms are also held taut by strings, which adds to the sinister feeling of the piece. It looks more like a mad scientist has tied the poor creature to a table, rather than a scientific Biology class experiment. Of course, no dissection would be complete without a few pointy (but plastic) tools, which have also been included in the piece.
Speaking of Biology, I’m glad I never had to dissect a frog in school. I did have to do a fetal pig dissection in high school, and it was horrible until we’d gotten to the point where the pig became less animal-like and more like what’s for dinner. Frogs are just cute little creatures though, I feel so bad when I think of how many of them die for the sake of science. A bit of variety might be nice; why not toads, rats, or snakes?
If you’re as thoroughly grossed out by dissected frog dioramas as I am, perhaps it’s time to check out some much cheerful Lego alternatives, like the functional Lego Calculator or the awesome Lego PC.
