Encountering An Alien Battle Cruiser

About this print: The artist’s inspiration for this piece, “Encountering An Alien Battle Cruiser”, was the opening scene of the first Star Wars movie. Here a sinister battle cruiser is capturing the Shuttle Craft in its tractor beam. The beam was created with a translucent, pearlescent overlay.

About this series: This delightfully whimsical series was created while the artist was part of the NASA art program to document the Shuttle Craft project. These images were created before the Shuttle Craft actually flew. At the time the series was created, NASA was trying to justify to the tax-paying public the importance of the Shuttle Program and its benefits to mankind. The images are from the artist’s humorous, creative ideas for uses for the Shuttle Craft, as well as situations the Shuttle Craft might experience. The titles of the prints are self-explanatory. Of particular interest in this series is the artist’s extensive use of black for the background, using it to contrast against and enhance his use of color. The prints are in the NASA art collection and have traveled the world as part of NASA sponsored exhibits. They are also in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.