Scientists explore connections to visual art

The scientist in her seeks new frontiers. Photography offered yet another.

Vicktoria Danilova works “day in, day out,” she says, in a biomedical laboratory at the university. Her academic specialty is the sensory system of taste. Trained in Russia at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in St. Petersburg, Danilova has been in this country since 1992.

When she began working in the Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences in 1993, she made the acquaintance of James Will, himself a distinguished researcher in the department and a veteran photographic artist. Will, who retired last summer, became Danilova’s guide and mentor into the intriguing and mysterious world of photography. Together and solo, their photos are held in private collections in the United States, England, Belgium, Germany, Russia and Australia.

For Danilova, photography has become a new medium to investigate. For Will, it is an extension of his scientific self.

“The discipline I practice in my lab” — where he studies cardiopulmonary physiology and pharmacology — “carries over to my darkroom,” he says, adding that he finds his artistic and scientific interests to be “connected — in art and science, you have to know the characteristics of the medium, in this case, how the camera works, how to develop the film, the mechanics of light. But art and science are also different — when I take photographs I’m able to express myself without worrying about having to get the grant,” he says.

Last summer, Will and Danilova visited Russia; the photographic record of their trip will be on display as part of the exhibition “Art/Science: Exploring the Connections,” now through June 12 at Promega Corp., a biopharmaceutical and technology company, 5445 E. Cheryl Parkway, Fitchburg.

Joining Danilova and Will in the seven-artist exhibition will be UW–Madison AHABS colleague Bengt Goran Hellekant, who, like Danilova, researches taste physiology. However, Hellekant the artist works in oils. His paintings are represented in private collections in New York, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. The series, “Echoes of Man,” which will appear in this exhibition, traces the human influence on and role in the natural world, Hellekant says.

“My paintings are echoes of human dreams, past and present,” he says. “Science turns dreams into realities in a way that art never can, and that is one reason why I am a researcher. On the other hand, art allows you to express yourself more individually than you can in science — as a matter of fact, that is one of the conditions of being a good artist. In art at its best, brush strokes catch not only what you see but also what you feel when you see. In science, objectivity, exactness and a single interpretation should be the goals of what you create. However, in both art and science, creativity and breaking rules are valuable. And both have cherished moments when everything falls into place.”

For information, contact Anna Schryver at Promega, (608) 298-4663.