Local Portland Sculptor Eric Franklin works in an extremely interesting, if somewhat macabre, medium. He utilizes clear glass tubing, vacuum sealed and filled with noble gases such as neon, krypton, argon, and xenon to create stunning renderings of the human form. The process is extremely tedious and painstaking, sometimes taking thousands of hours per finished piece to ensure that there are no leaks. Any leakage in the joints of the glass connections or molecules inside the sealed piece would affect the reaction of the gases within.

He uses the glass as a container for light and space, with each piece being unique and unexpected as there is no real way to tell how the gases will coalesce as they work their way around the glass housing. The gases even react to your body’s electromagnetic field and flicker and change as you move close to them.

See the photos below for examples of Eric’s work and follow the links at the bottom for more information.

Visit Eric’s portfolio site, or watch this Discovery Channel feature to find out more about his work.