Artworks painted with bacteria

The flowers, ancient trees, sea jellyfish live from bacteria spread under the creative hands of American artists.

Multimedia artist Maria Peñil Cobo was born in Spain and lives in Massachusetts, USA.According to The Huffington Post, Cobo is often inspired by nature for his artworks.

Instead of relying on the ocean landscape and the majestic forests, Cobo expressed interest in much smaller ecosystems.

For the past 5 years, Cobo spent time cultivating many species of colorful bacteria with the support of Dr. Mehmet Berkmen, a microbiologist, and then painting bacteria into beautiful masterpieces.

" This work is technically difficult, " said Berkmen, a scientist at New England Biolabs, Massachusetts, USA.

" You need to imagine the species of bacteria we use in different species . Each species grows and digests differently. Some make color immediately, while others grow old and then there's color, "Berkmen said.

Berkmen taught Cobo how to paint with bacteria on white agar, a form of paste that allowed bacteria to grow.The female artist using the easel is a flat disk used in the laboratory.

Cobo tried to paint with bacteria found on her lips, collecting by touching his lips to the flat plate, along with the bacteria growing when she put the house key on the plate.

Cobo hopes his work will change the public's view of bacteria from a source of fear to organism that attracts curiosity and deserves acceptance.

According to Cobo, bacteria are a normal part of human life.They live everywhere around us and even inside the human body.

" I am a scientist and I appreciate this project. When we do science, there is always an element of art, and when Cobo creates pure art, the science element lies in what we do. We are observing scientific phenomena, "Berkmen said.