A Different Approach to Space Art

Vija Celmins

Vija Celmins – Who is she?Originally born in Latvia,

1938, her family fled in to Germany in front of the invading Soviet army , 1944. They then emigrated to America in 1948.

Started exhibiting in the 1960’s starting with her series of objects paintings.

(http://www.c4gallery.com/artist/database/vija-celmins)

Field PaintingsCelmins started producing

highly detailed black & white images of seascapes, deserts and the night sky.

These are field paintings where the horizon line is placed very high or even outside the picture plane.

The resulting images are devoid of specific focal points with the result that they are almost abstract.

Us e of Media Celmins uses mainly

graphite and charcoal for her field images.

Galaxy #1 (Coma Bernices)

Charcoal for the background.

To produce the stars she uses an electric eraser which produces very sharp defined shape

What is Celmins Trying to Achieve With These Images?

“These partial views suggest a much bigger “whole”, by seeing not the world in a grain of sand but an ocean in the span of a few yards” (Frieze No107)

Though this was said about Celmins’ ocean pictures it can also be said about her night sky views. Within their small size they depict the huge distances between stars and even galaxies.

Star Field I (1982) Vija Celmins

(http://www.galacticimages.com/blog/2009/06/102/)

Celmins makes use of actual astronomical images, often copying directly from them.

For Celmins it is the photo itself which is the actual subject matter rather than the image it depicts. In her earlier works she made clearer with by showing the tattered edges and crease lines of the cuttings she had taken from magazines. Later the picture boundary replaced these edges.

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How Has She Inspired Me?Her use of media,

particularly graphite, to produced highly detailed and defined images.

The idea that space images can be about stillness. Much space art is full of drama and movement. Celmins’ images show that it is possible to produces works that don’t possess these qualities but are still valid depictions of Space.

Grant, Simon; Thinking Drawing, Simon Grant interviews Vija Celmins; TateETC; issue 9.

Relyea, Lea, Robert Gober & Briony Fer: Vija Celmins; Phaidon; 2004.

Rippner, Samantha; The Prints of Vija Celmins; Metropoliton Museum of Art; 2002.

Ryan, Jeffery; Vija Celmins; Frieze Magazine; issue 107, May 2007.

Bibliography