This art is really about YOU

Art can be personal, but a company called Yonder Biology is taking that theory to a new level.

Yonder creates an image using a person's DNA on canvas, glossy photo paper or some other custom material. The images are as individual as snowflakes or thumbprints.

Culture Monster talked to the company's founder Andy Bass, a former biotech worker, about this art form:

How did the idea for Yonder come up?

I have worked in the biotechnology industry for 10 years as a scientist and in sales for both start-ups and multibillion-dollar organizations. I enjoy science, but my creative genes are always pushing me to explore my artistic side. The concept for Yonder Biology began by wanting to find a way to connect the general public with the cutting-edge science that's happening at biotech companies. 

Go through the process of creating the art.

The process of creating DNA art begins by collecting a DNA sample from an individual using a sterile cotton swab to painlessly collect cheek cells. The DNA is then sent to our lab where we use standard molecular biology techniques to extract, amplify and take a digital image of the DNA. Next, we customize the DNA portrait according to the customer’s specifications such as customizing the color, size, including a custom photo or signature, and printing onto canvas or archival quality photo paper.

What's your art background?

My artistic experiences have been centered mainly in multimedia.  In 2005, I co-founded a streetwear brand called fit and U know It. Fit’s clothing line was carried in boutiques in L.A., New York and Japan.  Through this experience, I was exposed to one of my favorite passions to this day, photography.  Earlier this year, I was given the opportunity to step into the film arena to produce and edit videos for my friend Zach Horn at SINE Wakeboards.

Were there any art influences that guided your first step?

I have always had a drive to be unique and express myself in one creative form or another ever since I can remember. What can I say?  It’s in my DNA.  Ha, ha!  And, through Yonder, I actually have the technology to prove it to you.

How are you getting the word out, and who are you targeting in terms of buyers?

We have donated a few DNA art pieces to several charity events and gotten really good exposure in return.  We created a DNA art piece for Tony Hawk’s Stand Up for Skateparks fundraiser in Beverly Hills.

Everyone is a potential candidate for a Yonder DNA portrait, since we all have what it takes ... DNA.  We have a large network of contacts in the biotech industry and have started targeting buyers there.  We hope to build momentum and visibility to reach more mainstream clientele with our DNA art portraits.

And how are sales? 

Well, I quit my well-paying day job selling equipment and reagents to scientists at major pharmaceutical companies who run experiments to find new cures and create new drugs. Since then, I have resurrected the bartering system by trading DNA art for services.  Just ask my hair stylist and medical benefits provider, they both have custom pieces. Ha, ha. Our friends and family have been a large part of our initial customer base. Now, we are finally seeing orders from people across the country who have heard about us or seen our DNA art.

How has the reaction been from the artistic community?

We have received mostly positive feedback from other artists in the community. In general, people are loving the Yonder Kids DNA portraits, especially with the options to blend photos with their child’s DNA or add inked baby footprints for newborns. 

Are there any particular personalities that you'd like to see hanging up?

I bet Scarlett Johansson has really sexy DNA. ...  That could be interesting.

-- Jevon Phillips

Photos: Clients with their DNA artwork. Credit: Andy Bass.

Comments

[Kevin Freitas]

The antithesis of everything art should be about... very sad.

[Angela Almond]

This is the neatest art form for anyone who appreciates science. I will definitely have one in my house someday. Andy, you're a genius. :) Congratulations on this breakthrough.

[Photo Paper]

This is pretty creative stuff going on here. Shows how things evolve with the times.

[VK]

Hey Kevin, would you care to share with the rest of the class what art should be about? And what makes you such an authority? I think I'll decide for myself, thanks.

Keep the creativity coming Yonder.

[Charles Bishop]

This stuff is amazing. I have one in my home and it is of my daughter. Andy was able to perfectly capture my daughter's spirit in a photo then combined it with her DNA. It was a birthday present to my wife and she loved it. Could not disagree with Kevin more. Who gets to define what art should be about?

[Maryann Taylor]

As a researcher in the Biotech industry for 10 years, I'm overjoyed at the opportunity to express myself artistically by combining my knowledge of molecular biology with photos I have been the stylist and model for. I make jest at the comment posted by the common man. He feels threatened and attacks art that he does not understand.

[Donald Frazell]

Is fine as a gimmick, but as we learn more about our genome, we are finding it is but the skeleton of who we are. Much as we used to think the atom was the smallest building block of nature, and then found not only protons but then quarks and such as well. We are finding that the genes are triggered in other ways to be used in different combinations and in unknown ways, often by the life around us, but also by our parents expeiences.

Its cute, but if thats all you think you are, and that it is all about you, then you arent really with it. And not part of the humanity that is all around us, the nature we are but one member of, the purpose and god of creation and universal being, that should make us humble and thankful and what true creative art reflects. This will just make self entitled and absorbed kids and parents even more so, nothing like Meism, now is there?

art collegia delenda est

By the way, this sure reads as a commercial,

[Christopher Knight]

This hackneyed idea wasn't very interesting way back in 1998--when Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, a Spanish artist who teaches at the University of Chicago, first came up with it. (You can see one of his works here: http://www.maxprotetch.com/main.html?id=19&show=26 )

[William Wray]

I can see it's all about me appeal like a kind of abstract self-scrap booking. I think is not really art as much as it’s a sycophantic greeting card making someone a few bucks. If people what to feed their ego by expecting their friends to tell them what great art their child’s DNA printed onto a vacation photo is, then fly into a rage when we fall asleep, so be it.

[Tim Nuford]

This is a very interesting idea. I will leave it up to the self proclaimed art experts to categorize it. For me it touches upon a basic idea of who we are. Our DNA is what makes us unique and on a different level, very similar. Science is constantly misunderstood and under attack (see: stem cells, climate change, evolution).

PS. the earth IS round.

[JZ]

I think art is an expression in any form. It can be appreciated or ridiculed, idolized or trampled on, but all of it is art as even this comment section could be put up on a canvas in some gallery. And you are free to catagorize how you wish, of what is art and what is not.. though many people are really enjoying this art and i am happy to see that. It gives a glimpse into an aspect of human existence.

Yes Yonder, keep it up!

[Adrian Salamunovic]

Our company dna11 pioneered this concept nearly 5 years ago. Seems like every week someone takes a kick at creating art from DNA and making it a commercial success. Not sure why the LA Times would even cover this. If the "journalist" who wrote this would have Googled "DNA Art" they would have have found out these guys have done nothing new. Meh.

[William Wray]

We makes art less special is when everything is art. If I print up my EKG reading over an x-ray of my teeth, is it art? When the Kinko’s guy copies something for me is that art? If not, why?

[Helena Branson]

This technique (PCR) was developed in 1983 by Kary Mullis. In 1993 he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. PCR and looking at results on a gel has been the backbone of genomics research since the 80's. I love the direction Yonder has taken science especially including photographs with a person's DNA profile. It's art in my mind. It's the epitome of "Meism" (just like Myspace, Facebook, and posting comments on blogs).

Keep it up Yonder. I've seen other people's versions of DNA art and you have the coolest product around.

[William Wray]

He's the thing Helena: Face book and bolgs are not art, they are pure "Meism." It's self- expression when you do extrapolate on your selfness, or the artist does it subliminally in his painting. However, the artist is doing art. This DNA print out deal is a fuzzy middle ground that I equate with photo booth computer drawings.
Conversely, have no idea why it's worth arguing about. Art is such a ravaged wasteland of a ruined whore; why try and keep it from being demeaned anymore that it is? Hang my DNA profile next to Rembrandt, they are of equal importance. After all they are both keenly accurate self-portraits.

[Donald Frazell]

Creative art is expressIVE, not of the individuals desires and life, but of that which binds us together as humanity. The artists job is to find these things, what makes us human, man and woman, and then creating triggering mechanisms that evoke strong passions for life. connecting us to each other, to nature and to god.

This doesn't qualify, but is a nice illustration of Meism, and if thats your thing, fine. But dont pretend its art, even fine art is more than this. Creative art? Hell no!
They dont teach you the difference in art school because its a business, and a fool and his money is soon parted.
PT Barnum. Or was it Otis and Parsons?

[Kirk Garrett]

Kevin Frito Lay lol your a moron. You probably think playboy magazine is art

[Smith]

Why is the LA Times doing a story about this company?!? DNA11 has been making DNA portraits for over 5 years now and are very widely known and successful at it. He obviously copied their idea... What a joke.

[Rory]

I got a Yonder DNA kit for Christmas and I'm so excited to have my own DNA art! I submitted my sample and talked with the folks at Yonder about different photos to use as the background with my DNA. They are fantastic and I can highly recommend their work!