Space art
Encyclopedia
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
, both as a source of inspiration and as a means for visualizing and promoting space travel. Whatever the stylistic path, the artist is generally attempting to communicate ideas somehow related to space, often including appreciation of the infinite variety and vastness which surrounds us. In some cases, artists who consider themselves space artists use more than illustration and painting to communicate scientific discoveries or works depicting space; a new breed of space artists work directly with space flight technology and scientists as an opportunity to expand the arts, humanities, and cultural expression relative to space exploration.
Photography
Cosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
contains many sources of visual inspiration that our growing abilities to gather and propagate has spread through the mass culture. The first photographs of the entire Earth by satellites and manned Apollo missions
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
brought a new sense of our world as an island in empty space and promoted ideas of the essential unity of Humanity. Photographs taken by explorers on the Moon shared the experience of being on another world. The famous Pillars of Creation
Pillars of Creation
Pillars of Creation refers to a photograph taken by the Hubble Telescope of elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, some 7,000 light years from Earth. It was taken April 1, 1995 and was named one of the top ten photographs from the Hubble by Space.com...
Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...
and other Hubble photos often evoke intense responses from viewers, for example Hubble's planetary nebula
Planetary nebula
A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of an expanding glowing shell of ionized gas ejected during the asymptotic giant branch phase of certain types of stars late in their life...
images.
Modern digital art
Practitioners of the visual arts have for many decades explored space in their imaginations using traditional painting media and many are now using digital media toward similar ends. Science Fiction magazines and picture essay magazines were once a major outlet for space art, often featuring planets, space ships and dramatic alien landscapes. Chesley BonestellChesley Bonestell
Chesley Bonestell was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings were a major influence on science fiction art and illustration, and he helped inspire the American space program...
, R. A. Smith, Lucien Rudaux
Lucien Rudaux
Lucien Rudaux was a French artist and astronomer, who created famous paintings of space themes in the 1920s and 1930s.A crater on Mars and the Lucien Rudaux Memorial Award were named in his honor.-References:...
, and Ludek Pesek were some of the major artists actively involved in visualizing space exploration proposals with input from experts in the infant rocketry field anxious to spread their ideas to a wider audience. A strength of particularly Bonestell's work was the portrayal of exotic worlds with their own alien beauty, often giving a sense of destination as much as of the technological means of getting there.
International Association of Astronomical Artists
The premier organization in the world for creating space art is the International Association of Astronomical ArtistsInternational Association of Astronomical Artists
The International Association of Astronomical Artists , is a non-profit organization whose members implement and participate in astronomical and space art projects, promote education about space art and foster international cooperation in artistic work inspired by the exploration of the...
. Composed of over 120 members, the IAAA aims to depict the wonders of the Universe in ways to inspire the greater human population and raise awareness of space. Members of the IAAA have been creating space art in all of its myriad forms for 25 years, from traditional painting, to digital works, and 3-D zero-gravity sculpture.
Artistry
Space artists may work closely with space scientists and engineers to help them to visualize and develop their scientific and technological concepts making the dream of space exploration a reality. Other forms of pictorial space art bring the viewer to inner visions inspired directly or otherwise by the fruits of the expanding vision of Humanity. Some aspects of such art pay visual homage to outer space, popular ideas of life on other worlds including alien visitation visions, dream symbology, psychedelic imagery and other influences on contemporary visionary artVisionary art
Visionary art is art that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness including spiritual or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences.-Definition:...
.
Now that artists have experienced zero gravity
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
conditions during many flights flown with NASA, the Russian and French Space Agencies, and with the Zero Gravity Arts Consortium as part of a hoped for migration of Humanity beyond Earth, artistic expressions unknowable today will continue to unfold with new forms of microgravity expression emerging. Although such dreams await substantial opportunity, early efforts by artists to have art pieces placed in space have already been accomplished with both holography, sculpture, painting, mircogravity mobile, floating literary works, and sculpture.
Zero-g space art
The first painting to be brought to Earth-orbit was a radiant study of the golden sunlight on a Soviet space station by Russian artist Andrei Sokolov, carried aboard the Soviet Mir space stationMir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
in the mid 1980s. In 1984 Joseph McShane and in 1989 Lowry Burgess had their conceptual artworks flown aboard the Space Shuttle utilizing NASA's 'Get Away Special' program. The first sculpture specifically designed for a human habitat in orbit was Arthur Woods' Cosmic Dancer which was sent to the Mir station in 1993. In 1995, Ars ad Astra - the 1st Art Exhibition in Earth orbit consisting of 20 original artworks from 20 artists and an electronic archive also took place on the Mir as a part of ESA's EUROMIR'95 mission. In 1998, Frank Pietronigro
Frank Pietronigro
Frank Pietronigro is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and author.-Arts, cultural and humanities in space:Frank is the first American artist to create "drift paintings" where his body floated within a three-dimensional painting that he created in zero gravity aboard NASA's KC135 aircraft.On...
flew Research Project Number 33: Investigating The Creative Process in a Microgravity Environment where the artist drew, created 'drift paintings' and danced in microgrvity space. In 2006, the artist returned to microgravity flight to create three new works, one in collaboration with Lowry Burgess
Lowry Burgess
Lowry Burgess is an internationally renowned conceptual and environmental artist and educator. He has been an educator for over forty five years and is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University where he is a Distinguished Fellow in the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry...
, Moments in the Infinite Absolute, Flags in Space! and a new form of microgravity mobile.
The Slovenian theater director Dragan Živadinov
Dragan Živadinov
Dragan Živadinov, is a Slovenian theatre director.Studied theatrical direction at the Academy of Music, Radio, Television and Film in Ljubljana from 1980 to 1984. He was a cofounder of the art movement Neue Slowenische Kunst . In the 1980s he constructed the style formation retro-gardism...
staged a performance called Noordung Zero Gravity Biomechanical during a parabolic flight organized through the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center facility in Star City in 1999. The UK arts group The Arts Catalyst, with the MIR consortium (Arts Catalyst, Projekt Atol, V2_Organisation, Leonardo-Olats) organised a series of parabolic 'zero gravity' flights for artistic and cultural experimentation with the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, as well as with the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
, between 2000 and 2004, including Investigations in Microgravity, MIR Flight 001, and MIR Campaign 2003 . Artists who participated in these flights and visits to Russia and ESA have included the Otolith Group, shortlisted in 2011 for the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
, Stefan Gec, Ansuman Biswas and Jem Finer
Jem Finer
Jem Finer is an English musician, artist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Pogues.-Life and career:...
, Kitsou Dubois, Yuri Leiderman, and Marcel.li Antunez Roca.
Fallen Astronaut
Fallen Astronaut is an 8.5 cm aluminium sculpture of an astronaut in a spacesuit which commemorates astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the advancement of space exploration...
figurine that was left on the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission. Visual observations have been recorded in drawings and commentary by earlier Cosmonauts and Astronauts of difficult to photograph phenomena such as the airglow
Airglow
Airglow is the very weak emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky to never be completely dark .-Development:The airglow phenomenon was first identified in 1868 by Swedish scientist...
, twilight colors, and outer details of the Solar corona. An able and observant artist can record aspects of the surroundings beyond the design limitations of any particular camera system.
Astronomical art
Astronomical artAstronomical art
Astronomical art is the aspect of Space art devoted to visualizing the wonders of outer space. A major emphasis of such art is the space environment as a new frontier for Humanity...
, the direct inheritor of the artistic standards of Bonestell, is an aspect of space art whose primary emphasis is in giving the viewer visual impressions of alien and exotic places in the Cosmos. As an Astronomical artist one should have a sense of why the lighting, sky color, even your chosen landscape surroundings appear as they do, and how a drastic change in a specific condition as on other worlds could alter the scene dramatically. One should have a reasonable 'grounding' in science, the nature of the sky and weather, and geology for knowing the Earth, as well as Astronomy for knowing the heavens. Such artists share with every other conceivable creative expression the vast arena containing what can be called Space Art.
Space art related books
- Space Art Ron Miller Starlog Magazine
- Space Art: How to draw and paint planets, moons and landscapes of alien worlds Michael Carroll, Watson Guptill publishers 2007
- Infinite Worlds Vincent Di Fate
- Eyewitness to Space, from the Art Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1963 to 1969).' Foreword by J. Carter Brown. Preface by Thomas O. Paine. New York: H.N. Abrams
- Fire and Ice A History Of Comets in Art. Roberta J. M. Olson. Walker and Company New York
- Visions of Space David A. Hardy Paper Tiger 1989
- Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell Ron Miller & Frederick C. Durant, III
- In the Stream of Stars: The Soviet-American Space Art Book Sokolov, Miller, ,Myagkov, Hartmann, International Association for the Astronomical Arts
- Blueprint for Space Frederick I. Ordway, III & Randy Liebermann, eds
- Visions of Spaceflight Images from the Ordway collection Frederick I. Ordway III Four Walls Eight Windows, New York 2000
- Celestial Visitations The Art of Gilbert Williams 1979 Pomegranate artbooks
- Cosmic Art Ramond & Lila Piper Hawthorne Books 1975
- Universe Don Dixon Houghton Mifflin 1981
- Imagining Space Achievements*Predictions*Possibilities 1950-2050 Chronicle Books 2001
- Star Struck: One Thousand Years of the art of Science and Astronomy Ronald Brashear Daniel Lewis 2001 Univ. of Washington Press
- Futures: 50 Years in Space David A. Hardy & Patrick Moore AAPPL 2004
Individual space artists
Past:- Chesley BonestellChesley BonestellChesley Bonestell was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings were a major influence on science fiction art and illustration, and he helped inspire the American space program...
(1888–1986) - Robert McCallRobert McCall (artist)Robert McCall was a conceptual artist, known particularly for his works of space art. McCall was an illustrator for Life magazine in the 1960s, created promotional artwork for Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey and Richard Fleischer's production Tora! Tora! Tora! and worked as an artist...
(1919–2010) - Lucien RudauxLucien RudauxLucien Rudaux was a French artist and astronomer, who created famous paintings of space themes in the 1920s and 1930s.A crater on Mars and the Lucien Rudaux Memorial Award were named in his honor.-References:...
(1874–1947)
Present:
- Michael CarrollMichael Carroll (space artist)Michael W. Carroll is a well-known space artist. He has frequently been commissioned by NASA. Carroll is the recipient of the 2006 Lucien Rudaux award for lifetime achievement in the astronomical arts. His art has appeared in magazines such as TIME, National Geographic, Astronomy and other...
- Don DavisDon Davis (artist)Don Davis is an artist known for his portrayals of space related subjects. His work is characterised by attention to detail and authentic portrayals based on what is known of the subject...
(1952–) - Joe DavisJoe Davis (artist)Joe Davis is a research affiliate in the Department of Biology at MIT and in the George Church Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. His research and art includes work in the fields of molecular biology, bioinformatics, "space art", and sculpture, using media including but not limited to...
(1953–) - Don DixonDon Dixon (artist)Born in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1951, Don Dixon is an astronomical artist practicing space art in the tradition of Chesley Bonestell, who believed that scientific accuracy is a fundamental aspect of the esthetic of this genre. Space artists attempt to depict realistically parts of the universe that...
(1951–) - David A. HardyDavid A. HardyDavid A. Hardy , is the longest-established living space artist, having illustrated his first book in 1954....
( 1936–) - William K. Hartmann
- Jon LombergJon LombergJon Lomberg is an American space artist and science journalist. He was Carl Sagan's principal artistic collaborator for more than twenty years on many projects from 1972 until 1996...
(1948–) - Ron MillerRon Miller (artist and author)Ron Miller is an artist and author who lives and works in South Boston, Virginia in the United States. His current work is primarily the writing and illustration of books specializing in astronomical, astronautical and science fiction subjects for young adults.Miller holds a BFA from Columbus,...
(1947–) - Andreas NottebohmAndreas NottebohmAndreas Nottebohm, born in 1944, is an American/German artist whose work is associated with Op Art, visionary art, and Space Art. He is considered one of the key innovators of Metal Painting. "These raw yet refined paintings on aluminum lend themselves to rich multi-layered metaphors capable of...
(1944–) - Frank PietronigroFrank PietronigroFrank Pietronigro is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and author.-Arts, cultural and humanities in space:Frank is the first American artist to create "drift paintings" where his body floated within a three-dimensional painting that he created in zero gravity aboard NASA's KC135 aircraft.On...
- Rick SternbachRick SternbachRichard Michael Sternbach is an illustrator who is best known for his space illustrations and his work on the Star Trek television series.- Early years :...
(1951–)
Space art organizations
- Association of Autonomous AstronautsAssociation of Autonomous AstronautsThe Association of Autonomous Astronauts is a worldwide network of community based groups dedicated to building their own spaceships. The AAA was founded 23 April 1995. Although many of their activities were reported as serious participation in conferences or protests against the militarization of...
- International Association of Astronomical ArtistsInternational Association of Astronomical ArtistsThe International Association of Astronomical Artists , is a non-profit organization whose members implement and participate in astronomical and space art projects, promote education about space art and foster international cooperation in artistic work inspired by the exploration of the...