Victor Raphael’s childhood fascination with the Universe and its mysteries has never waned. Looking at his space field oeuvre, a lifetime in the making, one see that his curiosity and excitement about the cosmos translates into Polaroid photographs that reflect his sense of wonder, yet reveal specific fragments of reality. Raphael made snapshots of planets, comets and nebula from NASA broadcasts on television. The images quickly appear on film much as the real celestial objects do as the sunset ushers in the night. But these luminous images were just starting points. Raphael transforms bursts of light captured on film with gold leaf and metal paints to give them brilliance, nuanced colors, and dimensionality. Specks of dust and gases take form as spots of gold, orange, magenta and silver paint, spiraling across the blackened firmament. Similarly, metallic hunks of meteorites hurl toward us, back lit by amorphous shapes of light. In these jewel-like photographs, we are able to share Raphael’s focused, telescopic view of space.

The physical dimensions and Mylar surface of the Polaroid Spectra print has its merits, but it also has its boundaries, clearly defined by its white borders. To portray planets, moons and stars within a four-inch square demands one’s close attention. You must halt in your tracks and really look. The vastness of space then opens before your eyes.