The Space Art of Detlev van Ravenswaay (cont.)

To continue on, let's look at other works that demonstrate Detlev's versatility.

"In the Rings of Saturn" in one of my favorite subjects. I agree with Detlev when he says, " It must be a stunning view with the rocks and dust... The contrast between the (rock's) rough surface and the soft cloudy planet Saturn in the background." What a beautiful scene.

I have also included a pen and ink sketch of an asteroid encounter with Earth. In "Toutatis Encounters Earth," Detlev shows his ability with the pen sketch.

As a Space art collector, I feel that Detlev is one of the more creative Space artists in the craft today. He has the ability to paint in the traditional mode or the abstract mode as well as utilize methods from another artist's style and adapt them into his own work.

Detlev's training as an illustrator show in his ability to mimic other methods and techniques as in a work entitled "In the Glare of the Sun." A work that copies the style of Robert McCall as an experiment in color and technique. Personally, I enjoy the work because of it's vibrant colors.

One of his more unique works also shows his ability to mimic other artists, but also to be creative and abstract in a genre that is more adapted to traditional subjects such as planet landscapes and scenes of the future. Detlev's use of Worhal's pop art style for the piece "Buzz on the Moon" shows that unlike many Space artists, he has been willing to experiment with Modernism.

This painting that imagines what ice might look like at the South Pole of the Moon, while a wonderful work is not an original painting in my collection. The painting is printed on a postcard. While the postcard is ordinary, the place it has been is not. The postcard and Detlev's painting journeyed to the International Space Station.

This postcard was imprinted with the official ISS stamp on the station by Sergey Zalyotin. The blue octagonal stamp located at the center of the postcard is the ISS stamp. Zalyotin signed and dated along the bottom of the card making Detlev one of the few artists to have his work flown in Space.

Detlev is also now the first space artist to have his work flown by all three manned spaceflight nations as a special cover was flown on Shenzhou-6 recently. Now Detlev has taken new direction with his work. Through the use of computer technology as a new canvas and palette, he is producing artwork like the above view called "Shadowgames on a ringed planet somewhere in space."

Detlev has been designing mission patches for some of the German cosmonauts including ESA Astronaut Thomas Reiter, who is training for a mission to the ISS.

Besides being a friend and a genuinely nice guy, Detlev is a very talented artist who's work is not that well known to the space collecting community here in the US. Anyone who is interested in his work should visit his website at www.vanravenswaay.com and view some of the many examples of his works.