Printing Part Of A Painter

Diemut Strebe put 3D printing technology to work:

The Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, said Dutch artist Diemut Strebe, who is based in the U.S., has constructed a 3D replica of the severed ear of the late painter Vincent van Gogh using living cells from Lieuwe van Gogh, the painter’s great-grandnephew. Strebe grew the ear at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The ear is kept alive in a case containing “a nourishing liquid,” the AP reports.

Taylor Berman adds:

Strebe had plans to use van Gogh’s actual DNA but those were thwarted when genetic material lifted from one of his letters turned out to belong to someone else. “The postman messed it up,” Strebe said. If you’d like to ask van Gogh’s regrown ear a question but can’t make it to Germany by July 6, good news: Strebe wants to bring the appendage to New York next.

Colbert’s take here. See more of Strebe’s work here.