Flounder Lee, assistant professor of photography states, "I wanted to be an astronaut, then as I got a little older I figure that if I designed the space/air craft I’d get to fly them so I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. I worked towards this goal until receiving a very good scholarship in just that major at the University of Alabama (3rd oldest AE program in the country). I hated it. It was too much about economics and not theoretical enough for me. I took a year off and went back for photo journalism which turned into studio art/photography. But that love of all things Aerospace related has never left me."

The three artists in this exhibition are all visually distinct but all working on projects that are honed in on the aerospace theme I was aiming towards. All three happen to live in the Los Angeles area. Maybe it is the skies of LA being filled with a proliferation of airplanes, ghetto birds (helicopters), and blimps that draw all of their eyes upward. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the desert is nearby with many airbases, bombing ranges, and even the shuttle landing strip. No matter the reasons, these three artists approach the subject from radically different perspectives but all do it well.

Sam Davis’s art making revolves around sci-fi and retro themes. You’ll find iron rockets, lost astronauts, robots, and glowing UFOs in his work. His photography feels unique and a bit strange, but is always beautiful. Using an old school panoramic medium format camera, Sam creates scenes that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Heinlein or Asimov novel in the 50s.

McLean Fahnestock’s work usually revolves around the media of politics. Recently turning her gaze to the media of space launches, McLean’s video piece, Grande Finale, explores the legacy and impending end of the Space Shuttle program. The epic video will show all 134 Shuttle launches, simultaneously. The video is one of power and discovery. It brings a sense of awe to the viewer.

Darren Hostetter loves the machines of war and paints them into intricate patterns that from a distance can resemble underwater scenes or snowflakes. Darren also hates the war itself and it comes across in the insidiousness of the objects he chooses to paint. Bombs and drones fill the surface, which happens to be recycled aircraft aluminum. The works are simultaneously gorgeous and sinister.