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On the subject of cell biological images

 

When contemplating a scientific image, like one captured by an electron microscope, the image we see is a result of signals generated, when the electron beam interacts with the specimen, providing data, which are in turn converted into an image. We require advanced instruments to visualize the cellular realm, although our view is still very limited. It appears as though we were looking through some small windows placed directly upon a large object, so that the overall image still appears as an incomplete puzzle. For example, presently our instruments only offer us cross sectional images of cellular objects or 3D images of limited depth, and both only in black and white. The instruments do not provide colour views of the cellular objects or their landscape.

 

Art can offer visual, aesthetic representations of the cellular realm that go beyond the limitations of scientific imaging techniques, covering the gaps and missing puzzle pieces.

 

As artist I employ myself as a metaphorical instrument, an electron microscope, converting scientific knowledge on cellular properties into an image expessed as a painting. I conceive the composition of a painting by placing myself into the scene or landscape,  composing shapes, creating the light and developing the colours. Electron micrographs still lack colour. I am able to see a cellular object and its backdrop from an entirely different view point, both in terms of perspective, colour and structure. So, by applying the techniques of painting, I am able to create visual representations of cellular objects that go beyond the black-and-white, cross-sectional images typically produced by electon microscopes, which is, of course, only one of many tools, methods and materials available to the biological scientist. And of course cellular sujets are only one of many that the scientific microcosm has to offer.

 

The artistic interpretation can add dimension and symbolic meaning to the scientific data, engaging viewers on multiple levels.

 

The artistic work method is much like any scientific investigation in that it involves retrieving information, formulating hypotheses, and using intuition to fill in the gaps, thus arriving at a novel image of the cellular environment. And the image evolves in the process, just as the initial hypothesis often gives way to a modification as the results of the scientific inverstigation gradually appear.

 

By embodying both roles, i.e. as an artist and as a scientist, I implement my visions directly, i.e. to say without the need to communicate a scientific vision in order to have it laid down. But unlike illustrations, my work is not intended to communicate scientific information. Furthremore, they are not copies of scientific images, as produced by scientific instruments, be it patterns of microbial growth, cellular bodies or physico-chemical reactions. This is best done by way of photography or by digital illustration.

 

I create images, which should hold the viewer, if only for a fleeting moment. These should be aesthetically pleasing, evoking a sensation of curiosity and leave an impression of the fascinating microcosm that makes up our very being; a new vision of reality as it were. By applying traditional forms of painting they should, however, still reflect the human imagination through which the visions are generated.