Artist Rob Kesseler, who completed a residency with the Plant Development Group at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science in Lisbon in 2010, where he created TLM (Transmitted light microscopy) images of rare native orchid species, speaks at The Image in Science and Art, University of Lisbon's international colloquium, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon.

 'Jardim Porcelanico' by Rob Kesseler will be exhibited at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon from 17 – 19 February 2011.

Science and Sensibility: An Artist's Approach to Micro Imaging
Rob Kesseler, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts, London

For centuries scientists and artists worked side by side in the study and depiction of the living world. From flora to fossils and from minerals to microorganisms, the dissemination of new information relied as much upon accurate visual description as it did on the written word. Whilst it is often thought that artistic creativity was subservient to the need for scientific accuracy, it cannot be denied that greatest botanical and scientific artists and illustrators created work that rose above its apparent functional role.

My own interests lie within the representation of the natural world and since 2000 I have collaborated extensively with botanical scientists at the Millennium Seed Bank and Jodrell Laboratory at Kew and more recently at the Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência in Portugal. Working with the same material and sharing the technologies of the scientist, my approach to the development and translation of visual material fuses the exactitude of the scientist with the sensibility of an artist. Through a subtle mediation of colour and form I aim to capture the attention of the audience through the creation of mesmerizing images that lie somewhere between science and symbolism.

Science and sensibility will reveal some of the processes and approaches involved in working is this emerging field.