Mark Tillotson Sci-Fi
the artist
The interplantary / interestellar equivalent of a landscape gardener,
creating aesthetically night skies for the (rich) planets that form
its patrons.
the art
Patterns of nearby stars exhibiting suspiciously conspicuous symmetry,
or constellations of more obvious relation to the name that we are
used to. Subtle use of the colour of stars of different categories.
Distant clusters manipulated (perhaps not quite the right word) to
form messages and symbols that have to be searched for: the artists
trademark and also a symbol of the great over the natural world.
the beret
A tenuous metaphor, given the extreme alien nature of the culture I
postulate - if "clothing" or "personal decoration" is a relavent
concept, then it is what the artist has to distinquish its occupation
from others in the same or other cultures---I think also a symbol of
great power, perhaps the space ship from which operations are
controlled---if the beret surrounds the controlling intelligence of
the terrestrial artist, the brain, then this is a fitting parallel.
What we see as the artist's body is replaced by all the machinery of
controlling stars and other bodies, the artist's head by the artists
controlling vehicle.
Submitted by Mark Tillotson (markt@harlequin.co.uk), on Thursday, June 30, 1994, from Barrington, Cambridge, UK