Busacca Gallery

Artist Cris Orfescu: Edition size: 10. "...artists face a fundamental hurdle" trying to represent "the molecular landscapes of various materials, where features are measured in nanometers... For abstractionists like Mr. Orfescu though, such limitations are simply invitations to let color and shape-shifting run wild." (The New York Times). Cris Orfescu (www.crisorfescu.com) was born in Bucharest, Romania, and lives and works in Los Angeles since 1991. He is a self-taught artist and also a degreed scientist who is experimenting for over 40 years with different media and art forms including digital art, murals, acrylic and oil painting, mixed media, faux painting, trompe l’oeil, collage, graphics, animation, web design, video, multimedia. For more than 25 years he is experimenting and perfecting a new art form, NanoArt, which reflects the transition from Science to Art through Technology. "Shouting their presence in loud shades of red, blue and yellow, artist and scientist Cris Orfescu's images look first like abstract pieces. The colorful curves, angular lines and sudden bursts that command the canvases appear to be the fantastical expression of the artist's whim and creative taste... Orfescu's partner in the exhibit, photographer Rick Chinelli, said "personally, I think that Cris works on another level both physically and mentally." (Pasadena Star News). Orfescu was showing internationally his awarded works in USA, Italy, France, Finland, Korea, UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Colombia, Greece in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His art was commissioned for public and private collectors. "Cris Orfescu lives in a fun universe, populated by phantasmagoric creatures which one would say come from another planet... In his studio-lab he is having a good time sculpting the imperceptible." (translated from the French magazine Stuff). "NanoRGB" is a nanosculpture, in other words, sculpture at molecular and atomic levels. The artist fractured a nanomaterial in Liquid Nitrogen at 196 degrees Celsius bellow zero. The fracture surface was visualized with a Scanning Electron Microscope. The monochromatic scan of the sculpture has been captured in a computer and the physical nanosculpture has been destroyed after its image was acquired. This was a one-time imaging process of a unique sculpture. There is only one raw digital file of this image (artist's property). The black and white image has been manipulated and painted digitally. The original digital painted image file is also in the artist's possession. The final image was printed on canvas with archival inks specially formulated to last for a long time. The giclee's were printed using the Epson process by master printer Norm Shapiro at BSL Digital Imaging in Santa Monica, California (www.fineartgiclee.org). All prints are hand-signed on the left-bottom corner on the front side of the print and hand-signed and numbered by the artist on the back side of the print. Also, each print has the artist's fingerprint on the back side. The prints will be shipped rolled in a sturdy tube to prevent damages. "I bring the small world in front of my audience through high resolution electron microscope scans of natural micro or nanostructures and sculptures I create at micro or nano scale by physical or/and chemical processing. I take further steps by mixing the realistic images of this structures with abstract colors, digitally painting and manipulating the monochromatic electron scans, and finally printing them with long-lasting inks on canvas or fine art paper (giclee prints). This way, the scientific images become artworks and could be showcased for a large audience to educate the public with creative images that are appealing and acceptable. My artistic process starts in a laboratory where I create different structures through the means of physics and chemistry. I called these structures, Nanosculptures. Basically, I make sculptures at molecular level. For my artworks, I also use natural structures of different materials, and I called these Nanolandscapes. The next steps of my process are structure visualization and image capture. To accomplish these steps, I am using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Scanning electron microscopy is a method for high-resolution imaging of surfaces. The SEM uses electrons for imaging, much as a Light Optical Microscope (LOM) uses visible light. Conventional light microscopes and photographic cameras, use a series of glass lenses to bend light waves and create a magnified image. The SEM uses electromagnetic lenses to bend the electron beams and create the magnified images which are rendered black and white, because of the luck of light (no light, no colors). The advantages of the SEM over the LOM include greater magnification (2000000 times in SEM vs. 1000 times in LOM) and a much greater depth of field. Imaging is typically obtained using secondary electrons (SE) for the best resolution of fine surface topographical features. The image resolution for an ideal sample is in the nanometers range (1 nanometer is about 80,000 smaller than the human hair diameter). After visualization, the image is captured in a computer, painted and manipulated digitally. To paint the NanoArt monochromatic electron scans I developed in Adobe Photoshop a technique I called it "Digital Faux". Faux painting is a very old technique used by decorative painters to recreate the look and feel of many types of natural materials. The beginning of this decorative art technique is dated few thousand years ago, started with the Egyptians continuing with the Mycenaean and other Greek populations, ancient Rome, Italian Renaissance, and the French school. Faux finishes use glazes instead of paint. The difference between these two is paint is opaque and glaze is translucent. By layering glazes one can produce more 3-dimensional effects then with paint. Like traditional faux, "Digital Faux" is done by overlaying translucent layers of color to create the perception of depth, volume, and form. This is what I called "Digital Glazes" and I obtain them in Photoshop by adjusting the opacity of different colors. The final step of my artistic process is printing. I print my works on canvas or fine art paper with long-lasting inks (archival inks) using Epson process. Epson ink technology produces archival prints with amazing color fidelity, gloss level, and scratch resistance, while providing stable colors from the moment prints exit the printer. Incorporating high density pigments, Epson ink produces prints with an extremely wide color gamut allowing the reproduction of colors that were originally envisioned".

Limited Edition Prints (edition size 5). Archival inks on fine art paper, 13in x 19in (33cm x 48cm). Shipping: $25 in the US, $75 international. All prints are hand-signed by the artist. Custom prints are available by request at in different size, up to 48 in x 72 in (123 cm x 183 cm) or print media (canvas or different kind of fine art paper). archival ink, atomic scale, canvas, computer, dibond, digital manipulation, digital painting, digital print, direct print on aluminum, fine art, fine art paper, giclee, graphite, image, Limited Edition Prints, micro particles, molecular, monochromatic scan, nanoart, nanoparticles, nanotechnology art, scanning electron microscope, sculpture, structure

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoart

NanoArt is a new art discipline at the art-science-technology intersections. It features nanolandscapes (molecular and atomic landscapes which are natural structures of matter at molecular and atomic scales) and nanosculptures (structures created by scientists and artists by manipulating matter at molecular and atomic scales using chemical and physical processes). These structures are visualized with research tools like scanning electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes and their scientific images are captured and further processed by using different artistic techniques to convert them into artworks showcased for large audiences. NanoArt should not be confused with Microphotography which is performed using an optical microscope with a photographic camera attached to it and renders flat images at low magnification. The depth and three dimensions achieved in NanoArt sets this imaging process apart from Photography where images are created by photons (particles of light) rather than by electrons (electrically charged particles). The electrons penetrate deeper inside the structure creating images with more depth, more natural 3D-look than the photographic images.