Works of Space Sculpture are more difficult to recognize as such as they are usually more symbolic or abstract in nature, like a rocket shape, stained glass windows representing stellar objects, or a sculptured work designed specifically for zero gravity display. Hardware Art is usually similar to Descriptive Realism but focuses on the detailed depiction of the hardware of spaceships, probes, and equipment being used in a space setting. Despite being more loose, the subject matter is still clearly inspired by space. Like works done in the impressionist era, Space Art works in the Cosmic Impressionism style use color and form to give a viewer the artist’s impression of the image subject matter without trying to be technically accurate, highly detailed, or adhering to known scientific principles. The direct inheritor of the artistic standards of Lucien Rudaux and Chesley Bonestell, Descriptive Realism is an aspect of Space Art whose primary emphasis is to show a viewer a scientifically accurate visual depiction of alien places in the Cosmos.Ĭosmic Impressionism (aka “Swirly Art”). All art is from the IAAA book The Beauty of Space and is used with permission, copyright belongs to each individual artist.ĭescriptive Realism (aka “Rocks and Balls”). Here are the sub-genres of Space Art that the IAAA subscribes to as well as some art samples representing each genre.
As with any other form of artistic expression, a work of Space Art must be successful according to the standards of aesthetics and craftsmanship applied to any work from any artistic movement. There are several sub-genres of Space Art, each with their own unique characteristics. A strength of Bonestell’s work in particular 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.Īstronomical or Space Art is largely an outgrowth of the artistic standards of Bonestell, and is an aspect of art whose primary emphasis is in giving the viewer visual impressions of alien and exotic places in the Cosmos. Smith, Lucien Rudaux, and Ludek Pesek were some of the major artists in the early days of the genre actively involved in visualizing space exploration proposals with input from astronomers and experts in the infant rocketry field anxious to spread their ideas to a wider audience. Science fiction magazines and picture essay magazines were once a major outlet for Space Art, often featuring planets, space ships and dramatic alien landscapes. Many are now using digital media toward similar ends. If and when artists finally get to live and play in zero gravity conditions as part of a hoped for migration of Humanity beyond Earth, artistic expressions unknowable today will emerge.įor decades, practitioners of the visual arts have explored Space in their imaginations using traditional painting media. The first photographs of the entire Earth by satellites and manned Apollo missions brought a new sense of our world as an island in empty space and promoted ideas of the essential unity of Humanity. The Cosmos contains many sources of visual inspiration that our growing abilities to gather and propagate has spread through the mass culture. Whatever the stylistic path, the artist is generally attempting to communicate ideas somehow related to space, often including an appreciation of the infinite variety, wonder, and vastness of the Universe which surrounds us. Though artists have been making art with astronomical elements for a long time, the genre of Space Art itself is still in its infancy, having begun only when humanity gained the ability to look off our world and artistically depicted what we see out there.
Like other genres of artistic creation, Space Art has many facets and encompasses realism, impressionism, hardware, sculpture, abstract imagery, even zoological art. “ Space Art” or “ Astronomical Art”, is the genre of modern artistic expression emerging from knowledge and ideas associated with outer space, both as a source of inspiration and as a means for visualizing and promoting space travel.
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