For this limited series of 15 images, I combined photos I took of the desert in Joshua Tree with images from the Hubble Space Telescope. While both landscape and spacescape create a sense of expansiveness and possibility, the contrast in scale reminds us of our relative smallness in the bigger picture.     

The utopian aesthetic is reminiscent of early sci-fi, like the original Star-Trek I grew up watching, where California deserts were stand-ins for other worlds.  

By offering this series exclusively on the blockchain, I am drawing a connection between those utopian ideals and the post-scarcity economic ideas of the crypto community. 

Purchasers receive a complimentary 16" x 24" pigment print. Contact me @r_vanderhout

Ryan Van Der Hout (b. 1987)  is a photo-based artist working in Toronto. His work has been widely published including in The Huffington Post, Vogue Italia and Readers Digest. His work has been exhibited internationally in museum and commercial exhibitions.

Alchemy

Artist: Ryan Van Der Hout

Title: Vortex

Medium: Pigment Print

Original Dimensions: 16" x 24” -  4800 x 7200 pixels

Edition: 1/1

Created using images from Joshua Tree and the Hubble Space Telescope, I’ve alchemized them into otherworldly images reminiscent of the alien worlds I grew up watching in Star Trek. 

Vortex depict an orb-like energy over a soft mountain range. The viewer is left to wonder if it’s a UFO, an Armageddon-inducing meteor, or a hallucination or vision. Despite the other-worldly quality, the effect is strangely calming. 



Vortex

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