Sameer Walavalkar, "Birth of Venus and an eyelash", Nano Art etching

“Nano Art: Reloaded” is the name of a project started by Sameer Walavalkar, a post-doctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena , California, working in the field of Nanotechnology. He is planning to use Silicon, Gold, and Platinum as media. With a Focused Ion Beam and using the Silicon as his “canvas” he is etching classical paintings, portraits, and text. After etching, Sameer is visualizing the artworks with a Scanning Electron Microscope and captures their images for printing. In his virtual gallery on Flickr you will be able to view works like “Nano Art on the head of a pin”, “President Obama on a grain of salt”, “George Washington and an eyelash”, “Birth of Venus and an eyelash”, and more. He can also etch custom designed nano-compositions. You can send him a picture with your subject or your text and he can etch it for you.

Walavalkar started a Kickstarter project and the sponsors who decide to support the project at the level of $100 or greater will get a framed glossy print of their customized etching with the chip mounted on the print. “I’m not an artist by profession, and I’m not focused on exhibiting Nano Art. Instead, I want to make  personalized art for you to keep, display, or give as a gift. Kickstarter gives me the opportunity to offer you these made-to-order pieces basically at cost, (i.e. without any markups,) with your support acting as a seed to launch this idea! … So not only do you get art to hang on your wall, you also get your very own sample of nanotechnology!”, Sameer says. The above image is what a template for the framing would look like.

Carol Flaitz, "Stuck on the Right Side of the Brain"

We are all users of technology. We trip through Internet pages and Facebook posts with abandon, spending a moment on a friend’s profile, a few more on a blog post, perhaps we wander onto YouTube or pause on the homepage of The New York Times.  But what we often fail to do is stop: consider the forces at work that facilitate these meanderings online and wonder about the technology that makes it all possible.

For a few, the technological foundation of the age of the Internet, computers, and iPods is not just an intellectual consideration, but an inspiration.   The nanotechnology that makes a 21^st century lifestyle possible, and the microscopic biology that makes life possible at all, furnishes more than casual illustrations in a science textbook.  It inspires art.  It is art.  After all, if one really thinks about it, art is created based on the things that make us tick, even when what makes us tick is invisible to the human eye.

From February 3-March 2, 2012 the artwork of six artists inspired by the world of nanotechnology was on display at the George Waters Gallery at Elmira College in Elmira, NY.

“One Billionth of a Meter,” an exhibition of artwork by Carol Flaitz and five other artists working with microscopic images, was on display at the George Waters Gallery at ElmiraCollegein Elmira, NY, from February 3-March 2, 2012.  The exhibit uses mixed media paintings of microscopic technology to explore the “social contract” human society has made with today’s digital infrastructure.  Accompanying her work are digital prints by artists Jean Constant (France),   Bjoern Daempfling (Germany), Robert Fairfax (USA), Frances Geesin (UK), Maria Matheus (Brazil), Chris Robinson (USA), Anna Ursyn (USA), and Cris Orfescu (USA).  Orfescu’s annual NanoArt 21 competition has brought international artists together in a conversation about how electron microscopy images are worth exploring not just for their scientific purposes, but also as fine art.  When asked about her work, Carol Flaitz explains that she fell in love with the idea that powerful landscapes could be found at a scale so small,  invisible to the human eye.  “It is a metaphor for the infinite power of digital technology in the 21^st Century,” she explains.  “Within my lifetime, humanity has become beholden to a man-made world we cannot see, touch, or feel.”

Dr. Phil Flaitz, a senior engineer who works in material science and patent research with IBM, took the original images. Carol Flaitz abstracted the nano-photography into two-dimensional pencil designs on wood, and then submerged it beneath layers of color, texture and glazes until a compelling landscape was born. Originally a ceramic artist, Carol Flaitz combines the organic feel of ceramic glazing with two-dimensional painting techniques to distort the original, utilitarian nature of the photography into something beautiful and inspiring.

“I find it curious that microscopic images can be so beautiful, reminiscent of the finest landscapes, and indicative of the fine line that separates nature and technology,” Carol explains.

Carol’s artistic career began at the age of thirteen under the instruction of Katherine Nelson, a student of Hans Hoffman.  She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from the prestigious College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, NY, and then went on to receiver her Masters in Fine Art from the University of Wales in Cardiff, Great Britain.  Carol has shown her artwork at galleries across the Hudson Valley Region, in New York City, and internationally.  Most recently, she took part in an exhibition in Cologne, Germany, titled, Planet Earth: Planet Art.

Cris Orfescu, "Quantum Tunneling", nanosculpture, image print on canvas

NanoIsrael 2012 is hosting an exhibition of invited works of art based on nanotechnology. 24 international artists will exhibit at this event their NanoArt works. The exhibition was curated by Cris Orfescu and co-sponsored by NanoArt 21 and Epson.

The exhibition was acknowledged by  major publications like Haaretz, which is similar to the Wall Street Journal for Israel, a newspaper read by the local elite and by decision makers. The show is hosted at David InterContinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, during the conference period, March 26-27.

After the exhibition, the artworks will be donated to different Universities to spread the knowledge about NanoArt as a new art discipline and movement reflecting the progress of the technology and science.

The DNA of Betula Alba, also known as white birch, was transmitted into binary source of the BMP file. The DNA was trans-coded into digits, and converted into sound by Pure Data, a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical processing. The work is authored by Michal Bzezinski & BIOS (Biocultural Research ArtLab).

Cris Orfescu, Molecular Tentacles - nanosculpture

The Materials Today 2011 cover competition is now open. Click here to enter!

• Biomaterials
• Carbon
• Ceramics
• Characterization
• Composites
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• Mechanical properties
• Metals and alloys
• Nanotechnology
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• Surface science

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Flaitz digs into her panels, creating “fissures” or deep crevices that hint at further worlds beyond, then builds up her surfaces with various compounds, salts, resins and glazes to bring to life geological landscapes that man has created but until her work could not truly inhabit. “For all the benefits of digital technology,” says Flaitz, “the machines man creates literally shut him off from direct experience, reducing everything to the virtual world of light under glass. Within my lifetime, humanity has become beholden to a man-made world we cannot touch or feel. But once we get down to the molecular level, we find that the tidy clean chips and boards that run and rule our days are really organic minerals subject to the stresses of natural geophysics, and the illusion of perfection quickly breaks down, replaced by a natural beauty that is profound, chaotic and much more interesting.”
While the final pieces themselves look like they occurred naturally, the work required to make them seem so is anything but a simple process. Single panels can take weeks or even months to layer enough to create the desired effect, and the combination of sometimes volatile materials often requires the artist to be as much chemist as painter or sculptor.
Flaitz has exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently in Cologne, Germany. She holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Wales in Cardiff, Great Britain and a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the prestigious College of Ceramics at Alfred University in New York. She and her family live in Newburgh, New York.

This article is an excerpt from the exhibition program.

The winning entry in the Life Sciences category at Andor 2011 Insight Awards was Dr. Satoshi Nishimura of the University of Tokyo with a new in vivo imaging technique which will allow scientists to work at a cellular level and will provide the basis for future clinical usage of in vivo imaging for humans. He entered a series of confocal captures entitled ‘Inflammatory cellular dynamics in obese adipose tissue revealed by in vivo imaging technique’ using an Andor iXon3 EMCCD camera and a Confocal Spinning Disk Unit.

Dr. Satoshi Nishimura is a world-renowned expert of intravital molecular imaging; which means in vivo imaging of microcirculation and molecular dynamics in living animals with high spatiotemporal resolution. Intravital Molecular Imaging is a powerful tool to elucidate not only vascular pathological conditions such as arteriosclerosis, but also to study molecular mechanisms of pathological conditions caused by complicated and multi-cellular abnormal interactions, such as cancer or metabolic syndrome.

The winners were selected from a panel of expert judges from both life and physical science that included Dr. David Jess of Queen’s University, Dr. Neil Ganem of the Harvard Medical School, Professor Stefan Diez of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), Dr. Gábor Csúcs of the Institute for Biochemistry in Zürich, and Dr. Donal Denvir from Andor Technology.

"Self Portrait of Approximately 100 Trillion Carbon Atoms at 293 Degrees Kelvin", by Jonathon Keats

A graphite pencil was drawn across a piece of paper, depositing a layer of graphene. The paper is maintained at room temperature (293 degrees Kelvin), such that the approximately 100 trillion carbon atoms vibrate thermodynamically, each drawing its own nano-scale self-portrait in the conventional artistic medium of pencil on paper.
Jonathon Keats is a conceptual artist, fabulist, and critic residing in San Francisco, CA, USA. Recently he choreographed the first ballet for honeybees at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. He has also exhibited extraterrestrial abstract artwork at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, unveiled a prototype ouija voting booth for the 2008 election at the Berkeley Art Museum, opened a porn theater for house plants at Montana State University, and attempted to genetically engineer God in collaboration with scientists at the University of California. Exhibited internationally, his projects have been documented by PBS, NPR, and the BBC World Service, garnering favorable attention in periodicals ranging from The San Francisco Chronicle and The Los Angeles Times, to Nature and New Scientist, to Flash Art and ArtUS. Since graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College in 1994, he has been a guest lecturer at UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis, and has been awarded fellowships by Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Ucross Foundation, the MacNamara Foundation, and the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona. He is represented by Modernism Gallery in San Francisco.

"Quantum Abyss 1", by Cris Orfescu: nanosculpture (sculpture at molecular and atomic levels) created by casting a mixture of polymers, Copper nanoparticles and Carbon microparticles on glass. The stucture has been visualized with a scanning electron microscope. The final image was captured in a computer, digitally manipulated, and printed on premium photo luster paper with archival inks specially formulated to last for a long time.

For the first time in Israel, in November last year, NanoIsrael 2010 was hosting an exhibition of works of art based on nanotechnology. Epson sponsored the exhibition and provided prizes for the top three selected works, as judged by a jury of experts in the arts and sciences.

The exhibition was held during the NanoIsrael 2010 Conference and Exhibition at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv, on 8-9 November, 2010. Prizes were awarded during the closing ceremony on 9th November.

I have been invited to exhibit as guest artist. The artworks were printed by Epson from my digital files and after the show, the artworks were donated to different Universities in Israel to promote the NanoArt, Nanoscience, and Nanotechnology.

NanoArt is a new art discipline at the art-science-technology intersections. To read more about NanoArt and Nanotechnology please visit the entire nanoart21.org website. The 5th anniversary edition of the worldwide competition NanoArt 2011 is open to all artists 18 years and older. The online exhibition will open for public in April, 2011 .

For the 5th anniversary edition of this competition, nanoart21.org founded by artist and scientist Cris Orfescu (www.crisorfescu.com) will provide 3 high resolution monochromatic electron scans of nanosculptures created by Orfescu. The participating artists will have to alter the provided image(s) in any artistic way to finish the artistic-scientific process and create NanoArt work(s). The artists and scientists are strongly encouraged to participate with their own images as long as these visualize micro or nano structures.
For more information, visit NanoArt 2011 competition site.