Donato Giancola - Traveler

¤ "Traveler"¹ is an illustration done by Donato Giancola in 2005 and included on his site, "Donato Arts" It is 20" x 30" and in Oil on Paper on Panel and part of a private collection.

¤ Within the "Traveler" each segment lends itself to the other so you can't look at one portion in isolation to the rest. If you did so it would loose its collective meaning.

When I first became enchanted with this piece I mistakenly thought she was staring out into the limitless realms of space, but on further inspection I find myself let down by the potential of this piece. If she was staring into space we would wonder, does she want to leave this world behind in search of a lost love or uncharted territory. But as she is not glancing into space, one might assume that she is not all there.

Is she just allowing herself to be a possession 'til the artist is ready to discard her? At first inspection I found her gown quite exquisite and low cut but now I find it quite distasteful and it makes her look vulnerable. What kind of message is the artist trying to portray in this piece? Is he trying to convince us that there is only one perception of beauty and one way of looking at things. Over all I would not be rushing back to look at this artist's work again as it does not make my heart sing.

~ Mags

¤ This is a crisp piece of science fiction artwork which I might call science fiction fantasy work. I'm not using any sort of technical term, but referring to the combination of the beautiful painting of the spiral galaxy and the glowing nebula in the background with the organic shapes of the foreground. I am not sure whether the title "Traveler" refers to the person being a traveler or if, perhaps, it refers to the Science Fiction Role Playing Game "Traveler". I have no real reason to suspect the later, but it is a suspicion.

I wonder if the composition is balanced for a title or text to be placed over the galaxy on that section of the image because while the galaxy is nicely framed, so too would be any text or title placed there. If a book cover, it would place the woman on the back cover however, and likely be covered by text. The figure seems to be formally posed rather than caught in thought. Perhaps I get this impression because she is facing away from the view and not toward the viewer or toward anything in the composition. She also has her eyes closed and so doesn't seem to be looking at something off the set. She seems to merely be there to be seen and somewhat pleased at that.

I like the way the colours work in the space art in it and the contrast of that with the "interior" and with the reflection of the lighting playing off the parts of the foreground-interior.

Donato does do interesting artwork and I am sure that you will find at least some of his illustrations familiar if you read fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels, or play role playing games or collectible cards games. His art graces many covers and cards and illustrates many books. His work and bio speak for themself.

~ Darrell

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¹ The American spelling "Traveler" is the spelling used on the website as opposed to "Traveller".

Andrew Annenberg - Portal of Hunab Ku

¤ Andrew Annenberg's "Portal of Hunab Ku" is shown on his site: Annenberg Masterworks visionary fine art & posters. It is part of his "Lost Words Suite".

¤ "Portal of Hunab Ku" is an interesting painting in Andrew Annenberg's series of lost worlds. This one shows a sunken Aztec or Mayan temple complex now visited only by sealife like sea turtles, dolphins and whales. There is a peacefulness that the water brings along with the streamlined grace of the sea life.

I like the crisp style of Annenberg's work -- an illustrative style. It brings the right touch where you want to highlight the detail of the archaeological structures in the piece. He uses shades of violet to draw the eye to the entrance of the foreground pyramid. The emitted light might make you wonder just what lies within.

Dolphins and Whales are creatures of intelligence so it is fitting that they are explorers in this painting.

This is another image where you can look and find new details on further inspection -- some that might be obvious once you find them, might not have been noticed at first.

~ Darrell

¤ When one looks at "Portal of Hunab Ku" one automatically starts to look for similarities between the human race and the underwater world. The only similarity I could come up with is that these historical structures of the deep are the dolphins equivalent to children's building blocks. The shape and size of structure remains the same and one wonders whether they are content to use these cement blocks of the deep as their dwelling place or whether they would much rather be exploring the larger landscape of the ocean. One can only speculate as mankind have not been able to fully converse with these playful creatures of the deep. I look forward to the day when we can converse as one because they have a lot to teach us about living in harmony.

~ Mags

Arnau Alemany - The old Factory

¤ "The old Factory" is an "oil on wood" painting by Arnau Alemany. You can find it on his website: "the magic realism of Arnau ALEMANY". You can find his biography on there as well.

¤ This is another one of those paintings that plays with creating a reality that goes beyond reality. I am not sure how other to describe this form of creation of alternate realism... Of course you can describe this painting as surreal.

The old 19th century style factory is sitting in the open countryside with its surrounding wall and it's apparent product: spheres.

It makes one wonder perhaps if these are simply polished rock spheres with no purpose other than aesthetic or if they are planets in the making. I note that the painting is labeled as being "New" -- I was looking for when it was painted -- to give a reference point to the work.

Perhaps the factory doesn't make the spheres at all... perhaps the spheres have invaded the landscape or are explorers or tourists from another world. Or, perhaps they are not stone spheres at all, but people each in their own world: Adult spheres, some going to work in the factory; others watching children; and toddlers all on a work-day morning or afternoon.

I think that this sort of painting is intended to get the mind wandering -- considering possibilities and wandering in directions a landscape might not take you in.

~ Darrell

¤ Egg-tastic! This painting by Arnau Alemany is a fantasy artist's heaven. My initial thought when looking at this stoke house was -- that one egg dropped out of the sky inspiring cloning and mass production. What is inside these monstrosities -- a new life form determined to take over the world as we know it -- teaching us to live as one?

~ Mags

Chelsey Bonestell -- Saturn As Seen From Titan (1944)

¤ "Saturn As Seen From Titan (1944)" By Chelsey Bonestell from a gallery on the artist: "Bonestell Space Art". There is a page called "titan" on how this masterpiece was created.

¤ Rings anyone? Not a star gazer by nature -- but when Darrell suggested I look at this space art, I could see the attraction straight away. Chelsey Bonestell has a unique gift in bringing the unfamiliar to your attention so that you feel like you have been there before and that you are returning home. The bit that impresses me the most is the shadow-like phase of Saturn floating between two rocky crags. The crags remind me of a Cadbury Flake confectionery bar. (Oops, must be hungry.)

~ Mags

¤ When you are a child and going through school many images "just are" and you don't think about how they were created and by whom. The images are something that always have been in the books that you know and perhaps loved. I loved books about space and films and film strips about space. (I wonder how many remember film strips in school? Basically a slide show on a roll.) This picture is one that I remember. I cannot even tell you what books I saw the image in.

Space Art was extremely important in the days before we had the fantastic imaging equipment and far flung exploring satellites we have today. Today we actually have seen images from Titan's Surface! In 1944... it was up to imagination and science to provide any inspiration to people as to what wonders might be out there. Some like this Bonestell work, nearly seem photographic and perhaps better than photographic. Perhaps some details are wrong... it wouldn't be from cloud shrouded Titan's surface but perhaps another larger moon of Saturn?

We still actually rely a lot on artist's interpretations of objects and vistas in space beyond what we can actually observe with remote sensing and satellite. But the artist's have better resources to draw on. They also now have computers to draw on. I shall have to in future review some of the current space art of new planets discovered around stars far away.

This one has incredible towering cliffs with perhaps methane ice on the ledges and tops. Saturn is seen from towards the back in a difficult angle to see from the Earth with the top surface of the rings illuminated. There is a link to how he created models to paint the rock faces from and experiment with different lighting. That was interesting. It was also interesting to learn that the media is thin layers of oil paint on "illustration board" which had a large black and white print of the model mounted on it.

I am thinking that in a way, an artist can be a space explorer just as an astronomer or other scientist can.

~ Darrell