Interplanetary Travel Posters
2020- 11x15” Ink and acrylic on paper. 8 individual posters.
I conceived this series in spring of 2020 when I was under quarantine and living in Saudi Arabia. They closed all of the borders so I couldn’t leave the country. Then they closed the borders between the provinces so I couldn’t even leave the small city I was living in. I was desperate to get away (a feeling we could all sympathize with) but everywhere I looked was bad and getting worse. So, I had the idea to just leave Earth altogether. Which is why there is no poster for Earth… yet. It started as just Mars, but then it grew into the remaining seven as well. My favorite part was coming up with the phrases and writing the script, which was tedious but challenging and fun. I also enjoyed the artistic challenge of finding a different way of showing the planets. So in stead of having them all be a picture of a planet with the script, I made a few with a more abstract theme, like Uranus and Saturn. I really had fun making this series, and it gave me a purpose to make life there much more bearable for me.
The Sun is the center of the Solar System. As long as I'm doing Solar System based travel posters, how could I not include this? I love the idea of taking a cruise around the sun on some swanky space yacht. This was the vibe I was going for.
The closest planet to the sun was the third planet I completed. Mercury is where to go for a good sun tan. It says the sun never sets, but that's not technically true, as a day on Mercury is over 58 Earth days. So the sun actually sets about 6 times per Earth year.
I know, it's still 2020. But guess what? It's not 2020 on Venus! (in fact, a year on Venus is only 225 Earth days. So if they started the calendar at the year 0 like us, it would now be roughly the year 3,276 ad... Maybe. Don't rely on my math). Visit Venus, the hottest planet in the solar system - always Warm and Welcoming.
Here is the root of all evil for the year 2020, and no coincidentally my inspiration for getting away in the first place. I was stuck in Saudi Arabia during quarantine and dreaming of places I could go. Once I decided to complete the series I felt that I couldn't leave Earth out.
The whole time I was dreaming about some far off, exotic vacation to faraway planets, I forgot about our friendly neighbor to our (far) North. The Moon is just a nice, relatively uninhabited body that has never done anything to hurt us, and probably never will. It's basically Canada. This poster is the most unique of the series, and definitely a favorite of mine.
People, there is something we need to discuss. It may not be pleasant, but it's important. I know we're all stuck on Earth in the year 2020 and it sucks. But we all have a great place to explore! Someplace dark and gassy. A solitary place that few people ever visit. I'm talking about Uranus! The seventh planet in the solar system is a mysterious and cold world that we are looking forward to exploring more... Deeply I'm now going to deliver 5 facts about Uranus in insulting fashion: 1: Uranus is 4 times wider than earth! (Oh shit!) 2: Uranus has rings (Damn!) 3: Uranus is both wet and gassy! (Gottem!) 4: Only one probe has ever visited Uranus! (That was voyager 2 ) 5: Uranus can't support life! (Okay that was personal) Explore Uranus. You're gonna love it!
o Are you over 2020? Has this whole year got you down? Visit Mars! It’s not 2020 there – in fact a year on Mars is 687 Earth days long, so on Mars it’s only the year 1074! This was the first travel poster that I did. I had so much fun making the scripting the inking the planet that I decided to just turn it into a full series.
Did you wake up this morning? That's a good start, congratulations! But did that good start get slightly less good when you realized it's still 2020 and you've been staying in basically the same place for the entire year? I know the feeling. Maybe it's time to find a new spot. Discover Jupiter - the best spot in the galaxy! Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and is home to The Great Red Spot - the largest hurricane in the solar system! This storm area is 2x as big as earth and has been raging on Jupiter for over 100 years! And it's red! (Thanks for the fun facts, NASA ) And the best thing about Jupiter? It's not 2020! That's right, one orbit around the Sun takes almost 12 Earth years, so if Jupiter's calendar started at 0 just like Earth's, it would only be the year 170! That means that you could stay on Jupiter safely for 21,848 earth years before it's calendar would hit 2020! I think. Math has never been my strong suit.
Are all of your friends getting married? Are you feeling the pressure? Thinking about getting her that ring? DON'T DO IT! That's not the ring she's hinting about. Give her the ring she REALLY wants, take her to Saturn. And, if you decide to double down, it's a great place for the honeymoon (in fact it has 82 different moons to choose from). And the best part, as always: it's not 2020 on Saturn. As the 6th planet from the Sun Saturn has a 29.5 earth year orbital period - which means that if Saturn started it's calendar at year zero, the year would be... 69. Nice.
If you're still itching to get away, may I recommend Neptune. Yes, I know, we live on a lovely blue planet, but on this blue planet, it's still the year 2020! But on Neptune - which is the farthest planet from the Sun - one lap around the sun is actually 165 Earth years. So, I have good news for you, it isn't 2020! On Neptune it's only the year 12! Visit Neptune, the Sapphire of the Solar System.
I know we technically ended things, but we can admit it - we still think about Pluto.... a lot. Pluto may have lost its status as a planet, but it’s still a planet in our hearts. And it’s still there for us to visit, all we have to do is ask. As 2020 rolls on, and you need to get as far away as humanly possible, visit the paradise formerly known as a planet: Pluto.
I couldn't leave the series at 11 - so I decided to cap it off with Voyager. Could be Voyager 1 or 2, they have the same design and are equally intrepid. Currently voyager is outside of the solar system, exploring interstellar space. I recently read that in billions of years, long after the earth and sun are gone, it is likely that Voyager will still be flying through space as the last remnants of mankind. Pretty cool!