But Is It Art? (With a Capital "A"?)

I'm going to muse on something here..... I think about Fantasy Art quite a bit. I ponder the way it is perceived by the Art World, and why it's usually regarded as low-brow, or even laughable.  It seems that a common and possibly defining quality of  FA is the presence of realistic elements within the work. Perhaps this is because in order for fantasy to be compelling it requires a model off of which to stray. A Rothko or Bauhaus-period Kandinsky wouldn't be categorized as FA. However is this a narrowminded viewpoint? Who's to say that a color field painting couldn't be representative of a fantastical world, where one is immersed in dense fogs of highly saturated color? So when we categorize certain works as "FA" are we are drawing boundaries on the realms of imagination? Seems rather oxymoronic. Perhaps because of the liabilities in the connotations of the term people keep a wide berth. But just what is fantasy? And isn't all art, after all, a window into a fantasy world and subjective reality? 

Narwhals Over The Rainbow

In this work, (Untitled, artist unknown) we have a pastiche of 1980's pop art elements.  The content and color palate is reminiscent of the work of Lisa Frank. Also present is a Modernist reverse integrity of the picture plane, an unabashed flatness of space. Juxtaposed with the high fantasy element of the content, it's a combination completely divested of realism.  Although appealing overall, I think the execution and medium of the work limits its beauty, and relegates it to a low brow or pop-art category. However if this were instead painted on a large canvass, I think I would react differently.

Stonehenge!

In ancient times...hundreds of years before the dawn of history... lived an ancient race of people: The Dolphins.

No one knows...who they were, or... what they were doing. But their legacy remains, hewn into the living rock...of Stonehenge.

You'll Be There When I Die, (whales in space) Tattoo....

Some intrepid art lover out there committed this to posterity on their arm. Does this tattoo signify that WIS has achieved an iconic/cult status?

Postmodern Dolphins

This triumph of WIS defamiliarizes the viewer with their preconceptions of "ocean" and "space." Juxtaposed with the joyousness of the dolphins, the cold void of this "sea-space" is a stark contrast which perhaps brings us to deconstruct the idea of "inward" versus "outward" realities, and the true source of our humanity.

Disney.

Disney's 1940 Fantasia is, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful creations of modern man. When the Mickey Mouse big boys announced their "Fantasia 2000" thingamajiggy, I was beyond skeptical of its possibility of being good, millennial Disney being what it is (crappy). A decade has passed without me lowering my snobbish nose to the matter. Until, that is, I realized there's a Whales In Space segment in the film.

The segment is set to the music of Respighi's Pines of Rome, which frankly I find to be an unremarkable piece of music, though that's just a matter of taste. Disney trots out the typical overused devices to play on its audience. There's a cute, peppy little baby whale, playing catch-up with its majestic parents, getting into mischief, etc. It just, like, sooooooo clearly rips off the original Fantasia's Pastoral Symphony sequence. Actually, it is either ripping it off , or it's an attempt at being meta. In either case, I cannot deny that the cgi animation is gorgeous, and the...ahem...concept behind the whole thing is pretty thrilling.

So, does this bring the entire genre into another strata of high-browedness?

Sequence director Hendel Butoy recalls the concept coming up as a result of one of the artists preliminary brainstorm drawings (rock on, whoever you are!). The idea tickled Butoy's fancy. He says, "When you think about it, whales really do have a lighter than air quality to them. They're like big blimps suspended in the sea and moving effortlessly around in the water. The idea of putting them in an environment that you've never seen them in before was appealing."

Amen to that! And without further discussion, here is the video:

Wyland's Watery Wonderlands

"Marine Artist" Wyland is kind of a big deal. As I write this, I am actually hanging my head in shame that I haven't profiled him sooner.

He was called a “Marine Michaelangelo” by USA Today, (I'll give you a moment to absorb that......ok.) His "Whaling Walls" are a series of large-scale outdoor murals which can be found in cities worldwide.
His work is primarily straightforward oceanscapes, eschewing the space/sea mindfuckyness of WIS.
Notice that I said "primarily."
Ol' Wyland has done the dirty, as is evidenced by the above work, entitled "Water Planet." It was presented to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2007 for their bicentennial.

Click on the post title to visit his website.