Art and space together seems to be a very new concept. In an article by Arthur Woods, he claims that there is very little art addressing space activities in our mainstream art culture. If space and art advance together, there may very well be a better potential for global communication. The combination of the two is promising because space discoveries influence philosophies, religions, and social systems while illustrating on a platform like art.
Annick Bureaud from Leonardo Space Art Project spoke about what space art meant to her and points out more important things, knowledge connecting to other knowledge. She claims that space art is the only field that depend on strong relations, cooperation, and exchange between artists and scientists. Space art is able to connect to fields like visual arts, music, dance, and literature in which I will give a few examples of as I move forward.
The paintings on the left and below are paintings by Chesley Bonestell, an American pioneer space art. His vivid and elegant work popularized manned space travel. Through his artwork, he was able to influence an underrated field of work through another (art). Bonestell's paintings leave behind powerful messages for students like me to interpret the paintings. All his other artwork are beautiful in the same way, I believe his love for space art was because it was so beautiful yet not easily accessible in life.
Moving forward to a visual art emerging with space. There is an artist that challenge themselves with elements found in space like gravity and connecting it to art. In an article by Kathleen Forde, she introduced Xu Zhen, who used performers that are held upright by concealed braces so they appear like they are defying gravity and time. By doing this simple "performance", it looks like the performer is on the verge of falling and their stasis makes the relationship of time to space almost physically concrete. Forde connected this performance to a greater understanding, quoting "The performers seems to have broken free from the trajectory of life, with its continuous path of sequential goals, responsibilities, gains, and losses from birth to death". It is great to see that this work of art/performance carry out conceptual motivations to others to create an understanding that could benefit anyone.
Saturn as seen from Titan, 1944 |
Moving forward to a visual art emerging with space. There is an artist that challenge themselves with elements found in space like gravity and connecting it to art. In an article by Kathleen Forde, she introduced Xu Zhen, who used performers that are held upright by concealed braces so they appear like they are defying gravity and time. By doing this simple "performance", it looks like the performer is on the verge of falling and their stasis makes the relationship of time to space almost physically concrete. Forde connected this performance to a greater understanding, quoting "The performers seems to have broken free from the trajectory of life, with its continuous path of sequential goals, responsibilities, gains, and losses from birth to death". It is great to see that this work of art/performance carry out conceptual motivations to others to create an understanding that could benefit anyone.
Sources
1. "About Chesley Bonestell." Chesley Bonestell. Bonestell LLC, n.d. Web. 24 July 2016. <http://www.bonestell.org/#prettyPhoto>.
2. Forde, Kathleen. "Dancing on the Ceiling: Art & Zero Gravity Curated by Kathleen Forde : EMPAC Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center : Troy, NY USA." Dancing on the Ceiling: Art & Zero Gravity Curated by Kathleen Forde : EMPAC Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center : Troy, NY USA. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016. <http://zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu/>.
3. "Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers." Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers. International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016. <http://spaceart.org/leonardo/vision.html>.
4. Vesna, Victoria. "Space Intro." YouTube. Uconlineprogram, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 23 July 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=30&v=zzN08A6UBoo>.
5. Woods, Arthur. "Art in Space." Cosmic Dancer. Arthur Woods, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016. <http://www.cosmicdancer.com/art_in_space.php>.
Images:
1. Bonestell, Chesley. Saturn as Seen from Titan, 1944. Digital image. Chesley Bonestell. Bonestell LLC, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016. <http://www.bonestell.org/#prettyPhoto>.
2. Bonestell, Chesley. The Landing Craft Raised into Takeoff Position, 1956. Digital image. Chesley Bonestell. Bonestell LLC, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016. <http://www.bonestell.org/#prettyPhoto[bonestell]/24/>.
3. Zhen, Xu. Performer Defying Gravity. Digital image. Dancing On The Ceiling. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016. <http://zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu/>.