Like Andy Warhol, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (director of the cerebral sci-fi movies Solaris and Stalker, among others) had a fondness for the instant results and effects of images produced from Polaroid cameras. He took photos at home and in Italy. A Russian photography blog has digitized the entire collection. Many of the images (we've selected a few below) tend to evoke an emotional state, a kind of magical nostalgia, that Tarkovsky never tired of exploring in his films.
Eric Lebofsky's new show Cosmos explores the multiverse, ancient aliens, cosmology, and chaos in drawings that sorted themselves into three groupings: the primeval, the chorus, and the totemic ghost-gods. It might sound like the stuff of late night History Channel viewing or pulp novels, but in Lebofsky's hands, the spiritual and the alien mix in a sci-fi universe that the artist has spent some time in. In fact, the exhibit takes its name from a Witold Gombrowicz book, which like Lebofsky's work, uses elements of sci-fi, humor, and eroticism in dense narratives.
Independent curator Eyeball Mansion culled Lebofsky's material (approximately 20 new ink drawings on paper as well as a signed and numbered artist book) for an exhibition which opens Saturday night at Rational Park (2557 W North Ave) in Chicago. The opening is Saturday, April 20th 7-10pm and the show runs through May 11 by appointment.
An artist book with process and finished drawings, as well as a short sci-fi story will be on display and for sale.
We don't know much about Bryan Olson. He's a collage artist based in North Carolina, that's about it. But his sci-fi collages excite our imaginations. They have the epic scale of the great Hipgnosis-designed album covers of the '70s, and some of the pop contrast of the now classic Guided By Voices collage art sleeves. Whatever the case, his images make us want to finish that sci-fi novel we've been secretly writing or start that prog band.