JUNE 2017: Featured Artist
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Artist & Scientist:
Robert Bohan, Ph.D.
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Robert Bohan was born in Dublin, Ireland. He has been passionate about art from an early age and could draw before he could walk. He studied art & art history and was offered a scholarship to art college. However, he chose to pursue natural sciences at Trinity College in Dublin where he was awarded a scholarship to pursue a doctorate in botany. Drawn into the IT world and his interest in digital photography, he worked in the corporate world for two decades.
He was encouraged to share his work on social media where his art has garnered significant interest, and he is now the most followed artist in Ireland. His work is in collections in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, the United States & Canada. Working in a variety of media, especially pen & ink, his work is emotionally autobiographical and draws strongly on the subconscious as well as his experience of science and nature. Clarity of line, bright colors and strong composition characterize his paintings and drawings in a way that is uniquely his. Robert's unique photo collections from cities throughout Europe can be viewed from his website. |
In Memorium
Pen & Ink © Robert Bohan |
The Diver
Oil on Canvas © Robert Bohan |
Self Portrait with Mitochondria
Pen & Ink © Robert Bohan |
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An Irish Flora
Pen & Ink © Robert Bohan |
Microorganism
Pen & Ink © Robert Bohan |
Myrna Beth Haskell was curious about the juxtaposition of science and art in Robert's work.
How have you combined your studies in both art and science into your work?
Science and art have always been the twin pillars of my life. As a toddler, I would watch the Open University on television. I remember the physics lectures best - not least for the kipper ties the academics often wore. Before I could walk, I could draw; so it was inevitable, I suppose, that the two would come together. In secondary school my favorite subjects were art, geography and biology. Even though I was offered an art scholarship, I ended up studying natural sciences at Trinity College in Dublin. I studied scientific graphic techniques with a focus on clarity, accuracy of description and truth. I combined this with botany and zoology where drawing what you studied was a key component of the work. Afterwards, I was awarded a scholarship to undertake a doctorate in botany, and I also studied botanical illustration. So, the connection between science and art was intrinsic for me.
My process in creating an artwork is entirely based on my subconscious. As I draw or paint, I have no idea what is going to appear on the page, and often it takes me a while to work out what it is that I have depicted. Over time, I've uncovered cells, bacteria, slime molds, insects and all manner of plants and beasts. They are never quite how they looked as I peered down at them through a microscope or studied them in the wild years before. These life forms have been altered, played with and teased until they have become cyphers for my own experience and emotions.
My relationship with science as an artist is based on authenticity. It's important to me that the images come from within and that the science is the medium and not the message. Art is all about emotion. It's a form of self-expression first and foremost - and, for me, that is about identity. My work is about the human condition and understanding how the mind is connected with the body and our environment, seen through the prism of my own life. I have an enormous curiosity about what it is to be ourselves and to be aware and to feel - as humans, as animals and as life forms. My artwork explores that and maps that profound curiosity in what I think of as mindscapes - metaphysical landscapes of the mind. Science gave me the opportunity to set the human condition in the context of the natural world and art has allowed me to express it.
Robert describes some of his shared pieces (see work at top)...
Many of my drawings, for instance, have stylized mitochondria. These are the parts of cells that generate energy to keep things going. In my drawings, they can be symbols of energy or partnership or transcendence - after all, a parasite is generally a threat, but the wonder of nature is that they have become a blessing that allowed animal cells to develop and evolve reaching their highest form in that grey matter between our ears.
Another aspect of my work is the series I've called an Irish Flora. These are plants created by my subconscious drawn from the thousands I've studied and re-imagined into new and exotic vegetation. Perhaps the piece most people associate me with is of a flower. Its called In Memoriam [see above] and was done as I was coming to terms with my best friend having taken his life. It's a plant pulled from the earth, the seed from which it grew still visible at its roots. It has an orange flower, like an explosion, with a face expressing grief and introspection.
In parallel with these exotic blooms are a series of strange beasts. The many hours I spent sitting on the wooden floor of the University Zoology Museum studying and sketching skeletons and specimens of the entire animal kingdom reappear in these works metamorphosed into a weird and wonderful series of animals. They too exhibit human characteristics echoing my emotions. Most have a human eye and are self-portraits. That one eye reflects the fact that several years ago I was blinded in one and nearly lost the other. Following that traumatic time, I unleashed a period of creativity and unlocked that connection between my subconscious and my work. It was as if the mind's eye replaced the blinded one.
How have you combined your studies in both art and science into your work?
Science and art have always been the twin pillars of my life. As a toddler, I would watch the Open University on television. I remember the physics lectures best - not least for the kipper ties the academics often wore. Before I could walk, I could draw; so it was inevitable, I suppose, that the two would come together. In secondary school my favorite subjects were art, geography and biology. Even though I was offered an art scholarship, I ended up studying natural sciences at Trinity College in Dublin. I studied scientific graphic techniques with a focus on clarity, accuracy of description and truth. I combined this with botany and zoology where drawing what you studied was a key component of the work. Afterwards, I was awarded a scholarship to undertake a doctorate in botany, and I also studied botanical illustration. So, the connection between science and art was intrinsic for me.
My process in creating an artwork is entirely based on my subconscious. As I draw or paint, I have no idea what is going to appear on the page, and often it takes me a while to work out what it is that I have depicted. Over time, I've uncovered cells, bacteria, slime molds, insects and all manner of plants and beasts. They are never quite how they looked as I peered down at them through a microscope or studied them in the wild years before. These life forms have been altered, played with and teased until they have become cyphers for my own experience and emotions.
My relationship with science as an artist is based on authenticity. It's important to me that the images come from within and that the science is the medium and not the message. Art is all about emotion. It's a form of self-expression first and foremost - and, for me, that is about identity. My work is about the human condition and understanding how the mind is connected with the body and our environment, seen through the prism of my own life. I have an enormous curiosity about what it is to be ourselves and to be aware and to feel - as humans, as animals and as life forms. My artwork explores that and maps that profound curiosity in what I think of as mindscapes - metaphysical landscapes of the mind. Science gave me the opportunity to set the human condition in the context of the natural world and art has allowed me to express it.
Robert describes some of his shared pieces (see work at top)...
Many of my drawings, for instance, have stylized mitochondria. These are the parts of cells that generate energy to keep things going. In my drawings, they can be symbols of energy or partnership or transcendence - after all, a parasite is generally a threat, but the wonder of nature is that they have become a blessing that allowed animal cells to develop and evolve reaching their highest form in that grey matter between our ears.
Another aspect of my work is the series I've called an Irish Flora. These are plants created by my subconscious drawn from the thousands I've studied and re-imagined into new and exotic vegetation. Perhaps the piece most people associate me with is of a flower. Its called In Memoriam [see above] and was done as I was coming to terms with my best friend having taken his life. It's a plant pulled from the earth, the seed from which it grew still visible at its roots. It has an orange flower, like an explosion, with a face expressing grief and introspection.
In parallel with these exotic blooms are a series of strange beasts. The many hours I spent sitting on the wooden floor of the University Zoology Museum studying and sketching skeletons and specimens of the entire animal kingdom reappear in these works metamorphosed into a weird and wonderful series of animals. They too exhibit human characteristics echoing my emotions. Most have a human eye and are self-portraits. That one eye reflects the fact that several years ago I was blinded in one and nearly lost the other. Following that traumatic time, I unleashed a period of creativity and unlocked that connection between my subconscious and my work. It was as if the mind's eye replaced the blinded one.
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To view more of Robert's work, visit his website:
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