Space exploration has inspired artists since we first saw the sky — the stars where that empty black sky can be daunting, frightening, and endless. The science-fiction genre is full of books and films that depict space travel as dangerous. The danger, pure alien death.
Illustrator and printmaker Rob Schwager of Tiny Bird Press has his own vision of space and his take is full-on optimism. A Moon-eyed love of the potential adventure and heroism that is possible out there in space.
Schwager has confidence in the power of innocence. His figures, those children who built rockets and toy planes. Those that sit at footage from space shuttles, the Earth spinning, impossibly round and round. The young boy in his print ‘One Small Step‘ isn’t aware of the dangers of the uncharted cosmos, he’s inside of his own dream — to be up there with his heroes.
There’s a Norman Rockwell glint to what Schwager is doing, the innocence and nostalgia, but here those are aimed directly at Schwager’s own life. Each poster is a glimpse into his life as it is right now or how he feels when he looks back on it.
‘One Small Step’ by Rob Schwager | Tiny Bird Press
‘Ready for Take Off’ by Rob Schwager | Tiny Bird Press
‘Time and Space’ by Rob Schwager | Tiny Bird Press
‘Space Patrol’ by Rob Schwager | Tiny Bird Press
‘Moonshot’ (no text) by Rob Schwager | Tiny Bird Press
‘Moonshot’ (with text) by Rob Schwager | Tiny Bird Press
For more work for Rob Schwager and his Tiny Bird Press follow these handy links —