TIBA or TempInBody Art is a new form of medium for creations in the world of art. During my 30+ years as an orthopedic spine surgeon at a tertiary spine center, I removed a few thousand spinal implants from patients for medically necessary reasons. These implants were in people for months to decades performing the function of keeping them mobile and active. Some implants climbed mountains, won tennis championships and traveled the world. Many of them simply went about helping to perform the activities of daily living in work and in play.

These implants literally cover most of the history of spinal instrumentation from the early 1980s to 2010, when I stopped collecting them. As a collection they represent at least twenty different spinal device manufacturing companies, with none currently being made by industry, making them surgical artifacts. All the patients had the opportunity to retain their hardware after implant removal. Once explanted all implants were washed and sterilized according to OSHA (USA) guidelines and regulations. My original intent was to reuse these implants in my surgical mission work in third world countries. having no access to such devices. With public opinion building over not donating used goods or outdated medicines in mission work, and with hospitals in these countries refusing used durable medical supplies, I decided to create art with them instead.

My first three creations are replicas of homo sapien's &/or neanderthal's first known works of art as found in various caves in Europe and Asia. The Bison is a recreation of the "Magdalenian polychrome bison" in the cave at Altamira, Spain painted during the Paleolithic Period (15,000 - 30,000 BC). This cave painting is often referred to as one of the most beautiful of art creations during this period. The Hands are replicas of the "Handprints" in the Pettakerel Cave at Leang-Leang Prehistoric Site in Maros, Indonesia. These hand prints on the cave walls are thought to represent the first impressions of the actual human form in art. The Face is a replica of what is considered the "oldest portrait on record". This 27,000 year old work was found by Gerard Jourdy in the Vilhonneur Grotto near Angouleme, France. The artist simply used charcoal to add an eye, nose, and mouth to a rocky wall with lines and bumps already resembling a face.

In my art creations I'm using modern surgical implants, each or which is an art form in and of itself, to recreate man's first known attempts at art creation. Our ancestors have proven their artistic worth by how their cave paintings still resonate in our current world.

The Bison, Hands, & Face are all permanent pieces where the individual implants are glued to an Aluminum sheet mounted on a peg board backing. The rest of the gallery consists of individual implants arranged on a white background and photographed. These images include random arrangements of the implants, to what I am referring to as "metal implant sketches", to images that my grand children have created.

Please enjoy this gallery of TempInBody Art, and please share it with your artistically inclined friends.