A captivating journey into the intricate realms of neuroscience as DC artist and scientist Michal Gavish explore larger-than-life neuroscapes meticulously crafted on continuous panels of painted fabric. Inspired by 19th-century field guides and the pioneering work of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Gavish presents an immersive experience that celebrates the marvels of the human mind.

Michal Gavish has been invited to participate in the Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2022 in South Korea.  

Gavish will be working on site for three weeks to produce her new fabric installation on Neuronal Brain Networks. 

At VOLTA New York 2022 LAMINAproject is presenting the work of three artists: Amie Esslinger, Michal Gavish, and Jody Rasch.

Amie Esslinger is equally accomplished as a painter, sculptor, ceramist, and textile artist and that is evident when looking at her dazzling and complex mixed-media works based on motifs from microbiology. Many are constructed layer by layer, with both traditional and very unique materials, and all have a very sculptural and tactile feel to them. Esslinger’s work goes beyond the visual in terms of meaning and message and her references to microbiology are suggestive of the complicated parts and systems that compose and surround us, but cannot be seen by the naked eye. The forms found in microbiology are visually beautiful and are governed by uniform laws, yet influenced by chance and opportunity. As the artist explains, “I attempt to generate an aesthetic that echoes the complexity inherent in natural systems, while creating new mysterious organisms, both alluring and repelling.”

For Michal Gavish, multimedia artist and former research scientist, viruses, proteins, and crystals aren’t abstractions—they are figures, objects and nano-scale landscapes. She is captivated by these minute shapes that are hidden from the naked eye, interpreting them in their intricate environments. Using innovative techniques, Gavish translates visual research data into paintings and soft installations, sometimes drawing and painting and at other times developing three-dimensional works by layering original chemical paint-combinations onto translucent fabric and fragile paper. The resulting works give presence to the microscopic living formations that we know exist but can hardly imagine. In her Neurodiversity series from 2022, the artist paints neurological portraits which make visible the fact that nobody is really neurotypical; our brains are infinitely complicated and each is unique.

Jody Rasch’s work is drawn from various science practices, including astronomy, biology, and sub-atomic physics. In his subject matter and techniques, Rasch builds on historical concepts and follows in the footsteps of artists such as Kandinsky, Dali, and Picasso and movements from Pointillism and Constructivism to Dada and Surrealism that were influenced by science. Abstract yet recognizable to scientists, the stunning patterns and colors in his drawings and paintings elevate the movement and behavior of their subjects. Particle showers are painted as glowing traces of post-collision movement, the blueness of Einstein’s ring is accentuated, and skin cells are transformed into a vibrant multi-color wonderland.  Rasch brings images to a more human scale by enlarging the infinitesimally small or closing the distance to cosmic phenomena, making these hidden and remote elements of the universe relatable to our existence in it. As an expression of both the patterns of the natural world and the metaphors underlying modern science, his work reminds us that there’s more to the universe than meets the eye.

Michal Gavish was paired with the Polish poet, Julia Fiedorczuk, and responded to her poems called Psalms. She created her own "micro" psalms, a series of scrolls with images from genetic research, words genetics coding, the original poem  and from the book of psalms. She tried to transform visually in the rhythm of the poems. 

Plain Sight DC and the EU National Institutes of Culture in Washington, DC (EUNIC) present A Window to Europe: Through Literature and Art, a series of short exhibitions featuring eleven visual artists from the Washington, DC region who will create work in response to eleven books by European writers, as part of the 2021 Europe Readr project. This exhibition series is presented in partnership with the EUNIC Global and the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.

The Europe Readr is a curated set of European literature brought together under the concept of “The Future of Living” to present a variety of perspectives that contribute to the debate on the future of Europe and to put an emphasis on the importance of culture as a driving force of international integration and sustainable development.

Featured exhibiting artists’ works will explore themes ranging from vulnerability, the natural world, identity, competing human economic and ecological needs, nostalgia, and the limitations of our physical bodies.

As a trained scientist and artist, Michal Gavish works at the intersection of art and biology. Inspired by the colors and shapes produced by genetic DNA and viral sequencing research, Gavish adopts these visual languages to construct immersive environments. Gavish works with microscopic imagery to inform the resulting large translucent paintings that are thinly layered to create her environments.  As visitors interact within the space, these fragile works shift and react, immersing the visitors in both the complexity and vitality of the microscopic structures.

The event is the first part of Home Room Exhibition. The second part will be a gallery exhibition at Radiator Lab in spring 2021 at Radiator Gallery 10-61 Jackson Ave Long Island City, NY 11106
 

Michal Gavish experiments in her new installations with color fields and genetics data. Adopting the molecular modeling color language that she has learned as a chemist, she transforms the subjects of her portraiture from macro to nano scale. Using collaborative microscopic and spectroscopic results, she focuses on DNA and protein molecules. She creates layers and magnifies the scientific imagery to human scale, giving a new presence to these living formations. The soft installations and fragile materials examine the delicate balance that is essential for bio-structures and their vitality.⠀
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A new naturalism is afoot in the world of art. Science is fueling many artistic imaginations, and the result is a reimagined naturalism responding to contemporary needs. Let this trend grow, for it will be good for both art and science.

Lamina Project, an online New York-based art gallery focused on the bridge between art and science, is pushing this trend with great effectiveness. The gallery draws together artists who make compelling art taking inspiration from science’s cutting edge as it reveals more deeply nature’s underlying processes. I saw last year Lamina’s exhibitions in three art fairs in New York, and had conversations with the artists showing their work (1). This experience set me on an exploratory journey through the art-science nexus.

When seeking artists to exhibit work at the Hood College Hodson Gallery, gallery director Bonnie Kern had asked artist Michal Gavish whether she would be able to fill the 50-foot walls in the space.

Gavish succeeded, despite having started on a microscopic level.

“Neuro Land,” which opened at the Hodson on Jan. 17, was inspired by 3D models of nerve cells, also known as neurons, in the brain. Students stop in to look and take selfies amid the images Gavish painted on fabric and paper, which delights Kern, who said her goal is to intermingle the arts with other college departments.

Some of the most innovative artists working today are fusing art and science and taking inspiration from science. LAMINAproject−a gallery/platform devoted to art/science−showcases artwork by emerging and established artists that integrates ideas, images and metaphors of science to convey fundamental truths about the world and explore different characteristics of art-science relationships. LAMINAproject’s artists not only show the beauty of science, but also communicate how these images relate to and help us see beyond our daily existence. As expressions of both the patterns of the natural world and the metaphors underlying modern science, their art allows us to see beauty in the repulsive, to find knowledge in the unknown, and to observe the unseen to more clearly see our world. By exploring the invisible, Esslinger, Gavish, and Rasch invite the observer to look beyond the “seen” to appreciate the beauty and mystery of the “unseen.” 

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

As a chemist and artist, I experiment with expressing environmental concerns on the most basic molecular levels. Using microscopes and collaborative laboratory data, I focus on the stress on DNA and proteins in the changing environment. Collaborating with scientists, I create art based on specific scientific models.

Artist and chemist Michal Gavish wants viewers to consider the complexity and fragility of humans’ inner biology. In her 3-D drawing and painting installations, she magnifies imagery of DNA and protein structures to a human scale. She also introduces color, giving a new presence to living formations that are invisible to the naked eye.