Exhibition Of Works By Three Major Sci-Fi Artists At WCSU’s Haas Library

DANBURY — Anyone fascinated by fantasy or swept away by science fiction will want to visit “The Fantastic Voyage,” an exhibit of fantasy and science fiction art at Western Connecticut State University’s Ruth A. Haas Library on view until May 25.

Science fiction artist Vincent Di Fate, fantasy artist Tom Kidd, and fantasy and science fiction artist Michael Whelan – three of the preeminent artists of those genres – have numerous works on view in the exhibit.

Mr Di Fate has enjoyed an international reputation as one of the world’s leading artistic visionaries for more than three decades. People Magazine has said, “One of the top illustrators in science fiction, Di Fate is not all hard-edge and airbrush slickness.  His works are always paintings – a bit of his brushwork shows – and they are all the better because of it.”

 He has received many awards for his paintings, among them the Frank R. Paul Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science Fiction Illustration (1978), the Skylark Award for Imaginative Fiction (1987), and the Chesley Award from the Association of Science Fiction/Fantasy Artists for Lifetime Artistic Achievement (1998).

Mr Kidd was a “magic copying machine” as a child – he could always draw accurately – but he wanted to draw things that “no camera could do,” which he found to be infinitely more fun.  This desire led to his decision to become a fantasy illustrator.  Through the years, he has worked for numerous publishers, including William Morrow, Random House, Warner Books, Marvel Comics, and Tor Books.  His publishing work has won him five Chesley Awards, an Anlab, and a Golden Pagoda, as well as garnered for him four Hugo nominations.

Mr Whelan has been one of the world’s premier fantasy and science fiction artists for over twenty years and has done more than 350 book and album covers for authors and artists like Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey, Michael Jackson, and Meat Loaf. 

He has won an unprecedented fifteen Hugo Awards – Science Fiction’s “Oscar” – three Howard (World Fantasy) awards, and the Superhugo as the best artist of the last fifty years. The readers of LOCUS magazine, for science fiction insiders, have named him Best Professional Artist a record 22 times.

Mr Whelan’s goal, he says, is never to tell his viewers what to think about his work, which is as much a process of discovery to himself as to anyone.

“I may begin a work with a particular intent, but in spite of myself, elements that just ‘feel right’ will assert themselves. . . and sometimes eclipse in importance the conscious symbols with which I started the painting,” says the artist, who lives locally. He strives to tap into archetypical shapes and forms in order “to communicate on a level beyond the conscious one.”

The Ruth A. Haas Library regularly holds events for the campus community and area residents. For more information, contact the Haas Library Office of Communications and Special Events at 837-8628 or check events on the library’s website, www.wcsu.edu/library.