Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? Well, in this case, both. “Hideaway” is art that imitates life, to some extent, but not necessarily life on this planet. According to the author, “Someone ‘stole’ it, cut out my name, called it ‘sunset at the north pole’ and told everyone it was a photograph…Well… I did not intend to creat(e) an earth landscape. It was meant to be something quiet and ‘balanced’, a hideaway.” (Inga Nielson)

In looking at this artist’s work, one can see why someone may be confused. Some of it does indeed look like photographs of undisturbed places somewhere here on our Earth (or what we would hope there still are). [Example1, Example2, Example3, Example4, Example5] But others are obviously not of this earth [non-earth1, non-earth2, non-earth3, non-earth4). They call to us as voices from beyond our solar system, perhaps beyond our galaxy.

So, how does this fit Geekend? Don’t worry, I am getting to that. All these pieces were created, at least in part, with a geeky software tool called Terragen. Now, Inga doesn’t do ALL of the work just with Terragen. She also uses Photoshop, a graphics tablet, and some hand drawing. But, the results certainly are out of this world. I hope you enjoy a trip through Inga’s imagination.