Unit 2 and 3
The concept of my work in unit2 and 3 is an experiment of integration of science and art through astronomy.
I defined the common origin of science and art is a human curiosity for the universe/world, both subjects aim to build an understanding of our world from a different viewpoint. Science is to discover the world by analyzing data supported by evidence, it is categorized to the analytical or uncreative genre. On the other hand, art shares the understanding if the world throughout an artists' personal experience, it's classified to the creative but unanalytical. Even though science and arts share the same origin, they are generally separated in a creative or analytical side.
My idea is to explore the world from both scientific and artistic aspects with returning back to the baseline of science and art. The work in unit 2 and 3 is the result of my attempt to integrate the astronomical concept/idea and artistic visual effect.
This is my first painting about the universe. The aim of the painting is to find interest in the astronomical objects and to develop the painting technic to paint the four-dimensional space and the light of stars. The reason why I chose Arp 273 is that it was simply beautiful and the beauty motivated me to study astronomy to paint. I read articles about Arp 273, found this shape was made by the bottom galaxy UGC 1813 passed through the middle of the top galaxy UGC 1810 and broke the perfect circle wheel. I learned the importance to understand the formation of the shape and imagine the history of the astronomical object.
Images are avirable at:https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galaxy/en/
Andromeda Galaxy
This painting is a practice of painting galaxy. After finishing to paint Arp273, I had an interest in the formation/construction of the galaxy and started studying. I found the galaxy is constructed by massive stars and plants which is accumulated by gravitational attractive, it has three different types of formation that spiral, elliptical, irregular.
I chose the most popular spiral galaxy Andromeda and depicted from a photograph. This painting is a record of what I studied and how I understand the construction of the galaxy.
G299.2-2.9
This is a supernova image called G299.2-2.9. In this painting, I attempted to record my impression of a supernova. According to NASA, everything in the world is made of star remnants which are spread by a supernova. When a big star dies, the crashing core energy and gravity pressure cause an explosion. Each different color ripple indicates different elements like silicon(red), sulfur(yellow), calcium(green), and iron(blue).After the explosion, those particles bonding and create iron. The iron flows in our body as blood and sustains our life. However, this explosion is invisible from our eyes without x-ray as you can see in the middle image. I was moved by the fact of life began from a supernova, I attempted to left the evidence of the emotion. This painting is a reminder of what originally we are.
The sun
The subject of the painting is how painting can record the color of a star/colors on different waves of light.
From the painting of G299.2-2.9, I learned the narrow of the color range we can perceive with our eyes, started to think about what is the actual color of stars. My idea was that in the universe, there is a lot of colors on different waves of light, the star color we learned in school is just one aspect of the rich colors. Then, I started the project of depicting the actual color of our most familiar star sun. Simultaneously, the project was a part of the preparation of my collaboration project in unit3. about the process and research of the project. I summarized them in a research paper. please click the button below to jump to the page.
This painting is defiance to depict our home planet the earth from the astronomical viewpoint. Throughout the research about the sun, I noticed the smallness of the earth. In the universe, even the sun is just one of a middle size of stars, there are uncountable larger stars in the milky way galaxy and the solar systems each star has. However, the milky way galaxy is also a tiny part of the universe, there is a tremendous number of galaxies in the space. The earth is just a tiny rocky planet orbiting around the sun. However, people including me often misunderstand only the earth is the world. I thought of the smallness of the world range we know, tried to depict the smallness of the earth in the universe. This painting is painted on the small board of 15x15cm, also the occupation of the earth is lesser than 5cm. This is the smallest painting of the earth in painting which I know.
The Earth
The initial notion of astronomical painting series was a meeting with an astronomer. She taught me about the origin of science, the mystery of the universe, and the necessity to build an understanding of the universe/world scientists and artists together. she also gave me the opportunity to work with scientists to figure out the visual image of an exoplanet (unit3). we had a lot of difficulties to understand each other. I learned scientists never submit the information there is no evidence. On the other hands, I as an artist cannot believe the only scientific fact is the truth of the world. However, we made an effort to integrate both ideas and finally create a painting "55 cancri e" together. The account below is my summary through the collaboration project, and attachment in the bottom is the abstract of our project I and scientists wrote.
"The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. it is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. "(Einstein, A, 1934)
According to Einstein, the beginning of true science and art is the emotion to find mysterious.
For my artwork, I'm trying to capture life in the universe on canvas by astronomical research and artistic imagination. I find an aesthetic interest for the mysterious existence and visual of live in-universe and hope to reconstruct their beauty and unmeasurable vast energy on canvas. To develop the idea, I have been cooperating with astronomers, and we are challenging art-making which is not only based on the artist's imagination and general references but also supported by scientific evidence and viewpoint. For example, the subject of our project now is that visualizing exoplanet by painting. This project aims to delineate actual exoplanets from information given by astronomer. The most particular point is it brings advantage to both art and science. In the project, the analytical element of science and the unique creativity of art engages and complements each other, as a result, it produces an image of a piece of universe none ever seen. Our work represents the fact that science and art can perfectly coexist while expanding the possibility of each other.
An American astronaut Dr Mae Jemison explains science and art;
"They spring from the same source. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity. It's our attempt as humans to build an understanding of the universe, the world around us. It's our attempt to influence things, the universe internal to ourselves and external to us. "(Jemison, M, 2002)
Most people may think art and science are incompatible. However, as she said, originally, they have the common root of creativity and understanding for the world or universe. Our project is the challenge for creating a new perception of the universe for the future by turning back to the essential aim of science and art.
Summary
Outcome
As an outcome about unit 2 and 3, I am quite satisfied with some of the paintings that the sun and 55 cancri e. The reason why about those two paintings I could bring accurate scientific information and artistic creation and idea in the painting. I convinced the scientific viewpoint, study, and observation push my creativity and support the consistent theme of my work. On the other hand, I was frustrated by the unflexible of my ideas/thought. For example, throughout the practice in unit 2 and 3, I was constantly doing copying photographic images, even about the sun and 55 canccri e, those are just the visualization of a scientific concept. What I learned from the experience of working with astronomers is scientific concepts are strong. Those are supported by evidence, each simple concept has a significant meaning and the huge amount of information support the legitimacy. I was desperate to understand and visualize them. However, I think science in art has much more free and different direction except study and getting inspiration from it. My collaborator said to me, " one of the most graceful things of art is that art is not limited by the legitimacy of the content." For example, we can paint new science technology never invented, also we can share the idea of what we can do using them. Scientists cannot do this because their job is to discover and analyze something new, but not to indicate how to use it. In the next project, I want to make a painting which perfectly integrated but not following to the science by using the benefit of art as much as possible. My expecting achievement in unit 4 is to create a new concept for the future from painting.
For Unit 4
For unit 4 practice, I have two topics that I have been looked at. One is "the heart of the machine", and another one is "the self- sustainable starship (Ark)"
1, The heart of the machine
A portrait of an artificial intelligence
30x42(cm)
oil on canvas paper
About the first idea of the heart of the machine, I was inspired by the movie "Ghost in the Shell". This movie is about when we start to mechanize our body, how distinguishable machine and people. There is a really meaningful argument of an AI and a human-based AI
AI "When computers made it possible to externalize memory, you should have considered all the implications that held"
Person-based AI "Nonsense. No matter what you say, you've no proof that you're a life form."
AI "It is impossible to prove such a thing. Especially modern science cannot define what life is."
When I watched the scene, I thought this is what going on now in the world. Especially in my home country Japan, AI technology is improving incredibly in those few decades. Some AI looks like a living person and has a self-learning system.
However, our understanding of AI seems like doesn't much change since a decade ago. I see the danger in the situation, that's means, science technology is improving by itself, public understanding for such the high technology doesn't chaise to the reality.
My point is that now is the time to think about what makes us life form, and how we categorize AI. From a scientific viewpoint, AI is an object. But is that true?
My idea about this topic is to paint the portrait of Artificial Intelligence. I want to capture AI as a new life but not an object and ask what's the definition of life through painting. references I'm looking at is below.
Ghost in the Shell(1995)
I'm quite interested in his idea of we are the ghosts possess in a machine called body
Exhibition: AI: More than Human
Barbican Centre
The Concept of Mind(1949)