Two thumbs up (both mine, but whatever…) for the new fantasy and sci-fi art exhibition at Roq La Rue. I got there soon after 6, which was good, because an hour later the place was packed. A sign said that it was the first exhibition of its kind anywhere in the US – is that true? Anyway, it was nicely representative of the genre.
As is my habit when visiting any gallery, I set out to answer the question, “If you were to buy just one item from this show, which would it be, and why?” I find that it’s a really useful way of imposing some structure on what can otherwise become a random walk. In this case, it was actually quite easy. I found myself returning to Donato Gioancola’s “PSYCHOHISTORICAL CRISIS II” over and over again, enjoying the juxtaposition of huge, implacable machinery with small, uncertain people. Not only did this draw me in to it (and invite me down the steel passageway to an uncertain future); it also felt like something I would enjoy living with. Unfortunately my assessment was shared by the artist and gallery: at $15,000, it was one of the most expensive pieces in the show.
Of course there were also four wonderful little pieces by Bob Eggleton: pictures of starships against a rocky planetscape with a star-filled sky. Bob is best known for his contemporary cover art for science fiction books, and in these works he was paying homage to the cover artwork that one finds on pulp sci-fi paperbacks from the 1950s and 1960s. At only $300 each, I would have happily bought one right there and then; sadly, others had had the same idea, and all four were red-dotted before the show opened. Oh, well.