5 Views of Space from Art Dealer St
On February 17th, 1959, the Vanguard 2 was launched as part of the United States Navy’s Project Vanguard. This satellite would be responsible for the first photographs of earth from space.
Who doesn’t get mesmerized by views of space. The vastness, the unknown, it is all simultaneously unnerving and fascinating. Art possesses the unique ability to represent the emotions and capture the beauty of space and all the related themes.
So, I chose 5 artworks from Art Dealer St involving space related themes. These works depict space, the moon, stars, galaxies or abstractly represent space and all its magnitude.
1. Apollo 16 by Anne Wölk
Anne Wölk is a contemporary German artist who was raised by NASA scientists. Her upbringing inspired her to create a unique ‘Space Aesthetic,’ where she creates paintings of space or science fiction inspired subjects. Her oil on canvas, Apollo 16, was painted in 2022. Here she represents one of the most “iconographic images that have become engraved in the collective memory of humanity.” The Lunar Module Orion landed on the moon in 1972 during the Apollo 16 mission, the 10th manned mission in NASA’s lunar flight program. Wölk paints the Orion in hyperfocus, brightly lit by the circumambient sun. The stars and earth distantly glow against the jet-black background of space.
Buy it here: https://www.artdealerstreet.net/products/apollo-16
2. Andromeda Galaxie by Claudia Luethi alias Abdelghafar
Claudia Luethi alias Abdelghafar is a contemporary artist from Switzerland who loves to paint and draw animals, landscapes and cityscapes. After finding tiny canvases at a store, she decided to create a series of space related mini paintings. Her tiny miniature oil series represents elements of space from planets and stars to nebulas and galaxies, like this one, the Andromeda Galaxy. Andromeda Galaxie is a small oil on canvas completed in 2012. In fact, at only 5 x 7 cm in size, this tiny painting invites the viewer to consider how small our knowledge of space still is.
3. The Other Side of the Moon by JuanManuel Alvarez-Ossa
JuanManuel Alvarez-Ossa works out of Switzerland as a painter and photographer. His work has been exhibited globally and his compositions communicate his desire to question humanity and spirituality. The Other Side of the Moon is an acrylic and mixed media piece on paper from 2019. The far side of the moon is always faced away from earth. It has been a mystery because it lacks sunlight and with its rugged terrain it is harder to explore. Only recently, lunar programs have attempted and made landings on this side of the moon. So, the concept of the other side of the moon conveys the unknown and the unexplored in life. Alvarez-Ossa describes his piece as “a sphere suspended in a concrete cube.” This abstracted understanding of what the other side of the moon must look like, or the notion of lack of understanding underlines this geometric piece.
Buy it here: https://www.artdealerstreet.net/products/the-other-side-of-the-moon?_pos=4&_sid=4e4356d5a&_ss=r
4. Red Planet by Romaya Puchman
Romaya Puchman is an Israeli artist who has been working for over 30 years to hone her craft. In addition to figurative works, Puchman also creates abstract canvases. Concerned with representing the perfection and imperfection in reality and fantasy, Puchman imbues her canvases with the effects of light and bold saturated color.
This oil on canvas, Red Planet, has been exhibited a few times. For instance, it was exhibited at Michaelson Applied Art Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel and at the “Listen to your art” exhibition during Eurovision 2019. Puchman claims this piece “embodies eternity, greatness and cosmic rebirth,” and that it is a “deeply personal sensitive creation that symbolizes the universal desire for continuity and balance.”
5. Slow to Finish by Quick to Start by Adrian Sibley
From Westerville, OH, American artist Adrian Sibley’s abstract paintings bring Jackson Pollock’s techniques into the 21st century. Using drip painting, handprints, and other abstract expressionist techniques, Sibley claims that his goal is to open the viewers unconscious. Slow to Finish by Quick to Start is a recent acrylic painting created in 2022. Though Sibley does not claim a lunar inspiration for the painting, the texture and image created reminds me of the moon’s surface dotted with craters.