Although art is mostly associated with drawing and painting, the field varies from sculpting to acting to media. Photography, a medium increasing in the art field, is used quite often among everyday people, artist or not. If he/she sees a scene that needs to be captured, they will pull out a phone or camera and instantly snap a shot. Scientists have also adapted this process. When discovering molecular structures or how a substance reacts to another, the visual results turn out to be more than just data on graphs. Chris Palmer’s article focuses around this mixture of fields. Palmer presents a variety of photos taken by multiple scientists who were in the middle of experiments and discoveries. With these examples, Palmer emphasizes that some of the most beautiful and interesting things really do exist, but it sometimes needs a little help from a scientific mind to be exposed.
“C. Instagram” Meredith Wright
“Medusa” Jamie Barr & Cliff Brangwynne
The examples given in the article are all photos taken of organisms or substances that need a microscope in order to be viewed. Amazing images are created and the scientists have taken the opportunity to take a photo of it and display his/her discovery to the public. A couple of the images mentioned in the articles named “Medusa” and “C. Instagram” (above) were captured when microscopic worms were being studied. “Medusa” was taken when the scientist Jamie Barr was coming up with a new imaging protocol to understand signaling molecules more. She found this discovery “shocking”. The other worm related image, “C. Instagram” was taken through the microscope lenses with the iPhone of Meredith Wright. Wright posted the image she had taken onto Instagram and got comments from friends who were nonscientists asking for more information about this strange image and its content. In a molecular biologist’s, Anthony Ambrosini’s, opinion, he sees science as a way to explore the art behind it and what the image is trying to tell the viewer, communicating ideas or stories.
With the pieces presented in this article, I personally find this quite interesting and captivating. It is incredible how something I have seen as just data or even too plain can be presented in such a new way. It is a new approach that I have not seen very much of. It is increasing, but maybe not as fast as it should be. This does not only stop at microscopes or living things, the mix of science and art can be applied to machinery as well or just simple environmental studies. Being not of a science fanatic as much as an art one, I cannot create these images or projects of science by myself or even altogether. That is what also makes me drawn to these images even more. They are new to my field in art and I would like to learn how to do one myself someday. I may take a while and it might not be as good, but I believe it would be a fun small project to expand my knowledge. If the UO had any types of works similar to the ones in the article, I would like to take a look at them and see what else a scientist had discovered that came out to be more than expected.
In the present and oncoming years where science and art are starting to merge greatly, the genetic makeup or organism designs are turning into visual pieces of art. What has been only restricted to being seen through microscopes can now be enlarged and shown to the world. It sparks the interests of the viewers and makes them question what exactly is going on in the picture. It has become more of an immersive experience and I would like to see more studies in this field take place in the studio. Or at least make it an option, whether one would have either a scientific or art background, or both. Something new and fresh to add to the list of visual art.