Getting closer to nature: artists in the lab

The term bio art has emerged in the past few years to cover the kind of art that seems to come from the biology lab, with simulations of life forms through generative processes, with data taken from organisms, or even through organisms themselves. This is often at the micro level, invisible to the naked eye, where seeing requires some degree of computer modeling. This could be a hybrid form, serving the interests of both art and science, but recent exhibitions have prompted some debate about the divergent roles of art and science. Rob Kesseler and Andrew Carnie are artists who have worked alongside biologists to produce visual works of extraordinary quality, in both their decorative and intellectual aspects. They follow in a long tradition of artists who have been fascinated by the close-up detail. Drawing manuals of a hundred years ago advocated the study of plant forms, sometimes as the basis for pattern design. The author describes his own use of scientific sources, arguing that there is also a place for art that evokes the wonders of nature without being tied to the visible facts.

One of a series of drawing essays, here for a book with a biology/computer science readership, which will eventually form part of a book on drawing.

I am on the committee advising and refereeing chapters for this book.