Sometimes, however, the image displayed on the snapshot simply must be interpreted in grand dimensions. And Raphael, interested in new technologies, complies, creating his hand-embellished prints not only as outsized canvases, but also as digital prints on canvas and rag board. Complex explosions of inter-galactic particles scatter across five-foot wide canvases in rich, psychedelic colors and designs. Metal leaf isolates elements of this visual cacophony to help interpret the subject, to keep us grounded as these dramatic, large-scale photographs aim to transport us into uncharted territory.

With Victor Raphael at the helm, our travel into Space Fields is a magnificent adventure. We see close up what were once distant, unknowable constellations, specks of light and floating matter. We could reach out and touch 3-dimensional artifacts, rescued from oblivion, reconstituted with imagination and the stroke of a paintbrush to expand our horizons. Amidst these images, we sense the vastness of space and the power of imagination, nurtured in the darkness of night and the security of the backyard. A boy’s dreams are realized and we all are enriched for it.

Barbara Hitchcock
Director, the Polaroid Collections
Polaroid Corporation