Space, the final frontier… for street art. No, we're not quite ready to tag the International Space Station, but a pair of artists in San Francisco is working on bring space down to Earth with a series of murals depicting everything from constellations to nebulae. And, boy, are they pretty.
With the help of Nils Thorsen and the San Francisco Art Commission, Ben Janik has spent the past few weeks painting actual locations in space onto walls across the country as part of the Public Space Project. The space idea started when Janik was asked to paint a few boards for the broken windows. "My typical graffiti style art didn't seem to fit the wall, so I decided to go with space!" he told Gizmodo.
The idea caught on. Janik took the idea seriously and worked on a photo-realistic effect. "I use diagrams and a grid to lay out exact star formations for places like the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Moon," says the artist. "There are now space murals in Chicago, Tampa, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Milwaukee."
So why not bring space murals to every city? They're gorgeous and informative. Plus there's plenty of universe left. Janik's already done everything from Messier object 45 (M45), a star cluster also known as the Pleiades…
To M20, the Trifid nebula located in the constellation Sagittarius…
To M42, the famously gorgeous Orion nebula…
To M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy that makes up part of the Big Dipper…
Now all they need is M83. It comes with a built-in soundtrack…
Janik says he'll paint several murals this summer, one of which will be a "massive painting of Mars." Just don't forget the rover, Ben. Don't forget the rover.
All images by Ben Janik and Nils Thorsen