I’ve always been drawn to the fanciful illustrations that adorn the covers of sci-fi magazines and books. Better than words, they conjure up images of faraway planets, visions of improbable habitats; the vivid imagination of the artists transforms outer space into a friendlier and curiouser place. “Like last century’s painters of the Wild West, space artists romanticize a new frontier,” says Terry Booth, the mild-mannered owner and curator of the three-year-old Brandywine Fantasy Gallery.
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Many of Archer’s images are eerily three-dimensional landscapes of planets in sundry colors and sizes floating amid traces of primordial mist. Unlike some of his colleagues, Archer isn’t too worried about astronomical accuracy. Instead, his paintings suggest glimpses into corners of a distant galaxy.
They placed a pane of glass on ceramic insulators and daubed watery acrylics on the surface. Then they put the coil over the glass and charged it with electric current. “Electricity tries to reach the ground the fastest way it can,” Archer explains, “so it goes through the puddles of paint because water is a marvelous conductor. It heats up the acrylics, and the electricity follows the paint’s path to the edge of the glass. Then it goes into the ground. Why, I don’t know. It’s one of those mysteries of science.” Archer liked the resulting patterns of swirls and eddies so much that he stopped using a paintbrush.
Other artists featured in “Space Art: The New Frontier” are Adolf Schaller (who has done Emmy-winning visuals for Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series), Bob Eggleton, Franz Lurz, and the Adler Planetarium’s Mark Paternostro. Archer, Schaller, and two others will be present at the opening tonight from 5 to 7:30, timed to coincide with the World Science Fiction Convention at the Hyatt Regency this weekend. The exhibition runs through October 12; admission is free. Brandywine Gallery, at 750 N. Orleans, suite 205, is open Wednesday through Saturday 11:30 to 5:30. For more info call 951-8466.
