The Sun and the Moon 1987

Boris Vallejo created this fantasy painting, *The Sun and the Moon*, with what looks like oils, though perhaps it’s acrylics. It's got this wonderfully retro airbrush quality, and seems to me like a great example of how skill can be used to create something totally out there. Look at the surface of the sphere, the moon I guess, held aloft by this hunky guy. Vallejo really gets this beautiful, soft glow with his colour mixing, blues, greens, off-whites all subtly blended. The woman figure on top, representing the sun, has this intense golden tan, like she’s been photoshopped to the max. For me, this picture is a bit kitsch, but so what? Fantasy art like this shares something with the work of someone like Paul Cadmus, both revel in the unreal and veer away from the art world mainstream. It's a wild ride, and maybe that's what art should be.