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Permitted to use by the producer Teja Krasek
The artwork was created with a help of various computer tools. Most of the process consisted of using a digital paint and digital brushes in various modes through a tablet and a pencil, similarly as in a process of making a painting on canvas. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. An Pang Tsai for his beautiful seed image. Many thanks for this innovative approach in connecting science and art! I find it a great pleasure and honor to contribute and help making general public more aware of nanotechnology in this manner.

Abstract:
"What is the NanoArt?" - is a pamphlet with a poem in English and in Chinese and other translated versions of 8 Languages such that German, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Arabic, etc. There are 14 images of NanoArt created by different NanoArtists as inserts.

What led me to publish a new book - "What is the NanoArt?"

USA and China | Posted on February 11th, 2008

What led me to publish a new book - "What is the NanoArt?"

by Johnson Gao

What is the NanoArt? I had tried to search the word "NanoArt" in the dictionary. That word is too new to be found in most of existing dictionaries. So, It is a question beyond my knowledge to answer. But, it is quite true that I had taken part in the Second International Online NanoArt Competition organized by Mr. Cris Orfescu. There were 37 nanoartists from 13 countries and 4 continents with a total of 121 NanoArt works submitted to that competition. Public online voting is now open through March 31, 2008 at URL: nanoart21.org/nanoart2006/index.php?cat=9. Personally, I had submitted five pieces of my NanoArt images for that competition. Most of them were related to my Cell Biology research projects in the past, including a special image that I call it as the "antique NanoArt". That is an image of pseudo-color electron micrograph at high magnification to show the 7nm lipoprotein molecule in the yolk platelet of frog egg in relation with the membrane bio-genesis at the onset of a new life. Perhaps that was the world first color electro-micrograph. The traditional electro-micrographs are normally expressed in black and white images as like as X-ray films. At that time, i.e. 25 years ago, I was a "spontaneous" NanoArtist (because the NanoArt's name had not been created at that time). My aim was merely to use the artistic method and various color to enhance to the ultra-structure, so that we could see it clearer and sharper than a black-white image, which will benefit to the explanation of scientific result.

nanoart21.org/nanoart2006/displayimage.php?album=46&pos=1

There might be some other nano technologists to have performed similar things like me. To me the historical contribution of Mr. Cris Orfescu was that he raised the beauty of nano structures to the art level, thus, he became the founder of NanoArt organization and he created a new branch of art - the NanoArt. I believe that he is the first "conscious" NanoArtist. You may feel the difference between a "spontaneous" NanoArtist and a "conscious" NanoArtist.

In supporting his effort in NanoArt, I had written a poem about NanoArt and sent it to Mr. Cris Orfescu. He sent a reply immediately to me, in which he said that maybe my poem is the first poem for the NanoArt. Herewith I quote that poem "What is the NanoArt?" as following:

A friend of mine once asked me -
What is the NanoArt?
To which I could not explain.
Maybe I can make a metaphor for that, then.
The NanoArt is as good as a golden key.
It opens the gate to the other end of universe.
That belongs to the boundless micro-kingdom.
Where scenery is peculiar and unique;
Where everything looks still but is constantly in motion.
It is a down-to-earth realm of Utopia.
There are no noise, no pollution and no war.
Peace, tranquil, calm and beauty are in prevailing.
The gate of micro-kingdom is too tiny for human being.
Our bodies are obviously too large to squeeze in.
Only advanced scientific equipments make things possible,
That leads human souls to soar in that Kingdom freely.

Since there are many nice NanoArt images in the second international Online Competition, you will see how those contributors had revealed the amazing beauty existing in the micro-kingdom just as the above poem described.

To learn and absorb good things from other NanoArtists, I viewed most of images included in the Second International Online NanoArt Competition. I also read their illustrations. Not long ago I read a review article blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=802 by Roland Piquepaille, who had picked up four pieces from 121 pieces of NanoArt submitted. To my curious, I had searched back the original images of those four sites. I found that one image had got especially high vote counts.

nanoart21.org/nanoart2006/displayimage.php?album=55&pos=0

(Its current rating is 4.4 stars out of 5 stars with 152 votes, on the 10th of Feb., 08, which might be much higher than other images submitted). Of course, it is a very nice acrylic on canvas painting. From pure artistic view I like that image very much, especially for the thoughtful imagination. However, that image, together with its voting counts, stimulated my intuition, which seems just in contrary to the common sense or preference. I feel that that image is more likely belong to the traditional art instead of the NanoArt. To me it is merely a common acrylic painting related to the topic of NanoArt, but, it is not, or at least not a top-ranked, NanoArt itself. That image does not seem to have obvious nano structure in it, don't mention the artistic skill to enhance the scientific value or to increase the beauty of the original nano structure. The problem arose to me why people like that piece so hotly. My direct answer is that maybe people has not yet established the criteria to evaluate the NanoArt. They may still keep the old artistic sight to certify a totally new NanoArt.

I am not sure if I was wrong in front of the vast majority of viewers' recognitions. Anyhow, I feel that to speak out my view will be better to let such an opinion be buried in the stomach. That is why I wrote an article "On Appreciate the NanoArt" and posted it at
www.scribd.com/doc/1452244/On-the-Appreciation-of-NanoArt. I hope that with such a document people can discuss or criticize my personal opinion for easy.

In that article I suggested five points of concern as follows:

1.What is the percentage containing of nano-image in the "NanoArt"? (That is similar to 24K gold or not in a necklace.)

2.What is the difficulty to produce the image through the procedure to produce that nano-image?

3.What is the artistic function in the "NanoArt"?

4.Are those artistic procedures to be used to enhance the value of the original nano-image or only to do the distortion?

5.What is the significance of the whole "NanoArt"? Or, is it only to use fragment of nano-image to decorate a conventional art piece?

Furthermore, I also categorized many images in to five groups based on their function of Nano structure in the images.

Group A: Plain natural nano-image which has artistic value by the beauty pertaining to itself, or, the image was touched with negligible color adjustment, etc.

Group B: Nano-image with artistic modification to increase the quality or the pleasant visual accessibility of the original image.

Group C: Nano-image with artistic modification to distort the original image in order to get some artistic flavor or to increase its beauty.

Group D: Only tiny amount of fragmental nano-image was used to decorate a conventional art piece and then call it a ‘NanoArt".

Group E: "NanoArt" by name only (without or with almost no realistic or clearly visible nano structures in it). That is pretended to be a NanoArt with the nature of a conventional Art.
Then, I published a pamphlet for my poem with 10 versions in different languages and I also inserted some samples of NanoArt images (belong to the different groups as above memtioned) in that pamphlet. It was entitled as: "What is the NanoArt? - A poem in 10 Languages with 14 NanoArt images". (Refer to the URL below.

www.lulu.com/content/1992406

It is a paperback book with a poem in English and in Chinese and other translated versions of 8 Languages such that German, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Arabic, etc. There are 14 images of NanoArt created by different NanoArtists as inserts. It is printed with 36 pages, 8.5" x 11", perfect binding, white interior paper (80# weight), full-color interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-color exterior ink.

That book can either be considered as the poetry book decorated with NanoArt images, or, a mini-album of NanoArt images produced by front line NanoArtists and decorated with poems using international languages. I would like to use one of my friend's images copied from that book as a sample here.

I have set the price of the book at zero royalty. The editor and all contributors will not get a single penny from its sales. The sales price now is set only to cover the materials used and printing cost for its publication. The reason that I did that is to let people, including NanoArt image contributors, the editor and good-hearted NanoArt supporters to purchase the book at the lowest price possible through www.lulu.com/content/1992406 thus more people can know a little batter to the NanoArt.

I feel that only artists have the intention to learn the basic knowledge of Nanotechnology, and nanotechnologists are interested in studying art methods and skills that artists developed through their painstaking work, and both the artists and the nanotechnologists have the willingness to help each other and cooperate with both parties, NanoArt pieces of extreme good quality can be produced in larger scale. And only at that time this new bud of art can more flourish than the current status. I hope that day will come up earlier.