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? 

psychotropical emanations

Amsterdam artist Kamiel Proost likes Whales In Space. And, apparently, Magic Mushrooms. Coincidence? I think not.

My heart swells and I feel excited butterflies in my stomach when looking at his work---a true psychedelic artist, with a beautiful vision. In his artist/process statement, he claims that DMT helped reveal to him other dimensions populated with elves.... hmmm. You know what? Just keep on taking them drugs brother, because these paintings ROCK!!

Click the post title to visit his website!

Jovian Floaters Fantasy Video

Not to turn this into the Carl Sagan Fanclub Blog or anything, but the man was undeniably formulating some very Whales In Space-y ideas during his career.

Sagan and his Cornell colleague Edwin Salpeter published a paper in 1975 entitled “Particles, Environments, and Possible Ecologies in the Jovian Atmosphere.” The paper theorized about the varieties of organisms which may evolve and flourish in a volatile, gaseous atmosphere such as Jupiter's.

Basically, they look like big ol jellyfish and mantarays. Needless to say, this has far reaching implications for WIS.

Click on the post title to see a segment of Sagan's WONDERFUL AMAZING BEAUTIFUL show "Cosmos" in which he most elegantly explains the theory. The video contains, a bliss-fest of ANIMATED WIS concept fantasy art.

Mister PicassoHead and His Bucket of Art Parts!

Get your french-fried cubism on with Mr. PicassoHead! Click the post title to access the website, and or click here for my own personal "masterpiece."

I Still Love the Old World

In my eternal quest for WIS images available on the interwebs, I bear witness to what I believe to be the evolutionary progress of the art form. The golden age of WIS has clearly passed. This was an age of airbrushes, an age when evidence of the warm touch of the human hand was still felt, no matter how polished and realistic the pieces may have been. These days---though I must emphasize that it gives me infinite pleasure to see people still pursuing the genre---these days I see more photoshop job WIS than not.

Now, I majored in fine art. I mean, I am a purist. I built my own silkscreens and gleefully inhaled the aroma of linseed oil and turpentine. I wore my charcoal smudge warpaint with pride. It never crossed my mind to pursue digital photoshop whatnot, because...well, I'm a purist snob! And recently, I've reconsidered my thinking. It sure is a hellofalot easier to get what's in your head out and into existence with photoshop than struggling with the many varieties of technical difficulties involved in the old ways. Photoshop is cool, fine, yes. And worth pursuing...But...I still just like the old stuff better.

Green Moon Orcas and Roger Dean

Here we have a uniquely lovely WIS. When I first beheld this piece I was immediately reminded of the work of one of my favorite artists, the super-fantastic visionary Roger Dean. Though I'm nearly positive Dean has never ventured into the realm of WIS art, he is undeniably an influence for countless fantasy artists, likely including the perpetrators of WIS. A defining feature of Dean's works are his deliciously rich techniques of manipulating various inks, watercolors, and enamels. Though his work is highly detailed, it still retains a soft, speckly quality.








There are recurring themes of space, flying creatures (but not whales), and floating objects or land masses in Dean's work.

Nature's Majesty!

BEHOLD!!! The majestic Bald Eagle! The stealthy Mountain Lion! And the wise and noble Wolf! Imperial Nature! This post brings us to a popular genre somewhat related to WIS - Redneck T-Shirt Art.

Also a fantasy art sub-genre, Redneck T-Shirt Art often encompasses the themes of Wolves, Eagles, and Native Americans, and is usually set within the context of woods, mountains, tundra or sky. I believe the style developed as a result of the oxymoronic combination of patriotic sentiments with a reverence for Native American culture and mysticism. Also, redneck guys just love them some wolves.

More examples of Redneck T-Shirt Art:

Photoshop Ahoy!

The first Photoshop attempt at a WIS piece that I have seen. It lacks the usual atmosphere of most other works, but the content is not to be denied.

Pablo Picasso...never got called an asshole

I found this work, entitled "DOLPHIN UNIVERSE," on a popular art-poster website. I was saddened to find that the site provides no artist credit for this work. Clearly, there is some serious art-snobbery going on here. The site does credit artists it deems to be "worthy,"---they list 'Pablo Picasso' for a poster of Guernica, (which has no whales, I might add.)and even a "c.1937." And yet Dolphin Universe goes without these marks of recognition. Well, the art world is a brutal, fiercely competitive place riddled with politics, favoritism and bullshit. For one man armed only with an airbrush and a vision, it can be an unrewarding path.

Anyway, Dolphin Universe seems to be another late-period WIS, as it is fully computer-rendered. We have quite an elaborate 'space-scape' in the upper half of the frame: our entire solar system, a few nebulae and some other galaxies floating around, as well as stars and a few comets. Though it's hard to make out in this small picture, the ocean waters in the lower half of the work are reminiscent of the "Fractal Art" that also became popular in the early 90's. (Remember fractal art? mmmm....nerdy.) Click on the post title to see some what I'm talking about.

Bong-Ripper

An inherent difficulty with WIS is the fact that information on details such as medium and date of completion are most often impossible to come by. For example, this particular work appears to be computer-rendered, which would lead me to believe that it is a late-period WIS, although this cannot be confirmed. There is a clusterfuckyness about the disparate elements of the work that set it apart from the more simplistic "whales floating in space" themes of the genre's early period. Why is there a panda? The artist is apparently a big hippie who has also done work for the Grateful Dead and Hot Tuna.

Whales In Space

Welcome!

You have found your way to my little blog: WHALES IN SPACE!!!!

Here you will find the online testament to my inexplicable personal fascination with this oft-overlooked, fucking AWESOME art sub-genre.

Made popular in the late 1980's through such reputedly "low-brow" vehicles as dorm-room posters and those pictures that come with the frame when you buy one, Whales In Space combines elements of nature's majesty with the vast landscapes of our imagination. *wind chimes*


You can help contribute by sending me any fine examples of W.I.S you may happen upon. Let us all delight in the airbrushed universe of amazingness.