Wizards Versus Technocrats

This picture, illustrating Arthur C. Clarke's famous motto "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," was done as a commission for a community of Boston-area science fiction fans that I belonged to. The idea was that a group of wizards would battle an opposing group of technocrats and come out as equal. Each character, well most of them, were recognizable portraits of Boston fans at that time, including the young man who came up with the idea for the picture. My notes for the picture say that I was paid in barter, with some comic book collectables.

This is a tiny picture so the portraits were even smaller than convention nametag IDs, but I managed to get some character for each one. The Wizards are on the left, the Technocrats on the right. The Wizards are using colorful magic, while the Technos use elaborate weapons systems including the spherical "Death Star" from the then-brand-new "Star Wars." In the background are patterns of color and shape which I now produce as "Geometrika," showing that even then I worked in that style.

The characters, from left to right, are: Wizards: The artist then known as "Hannah M.G. Shapero," in a black cape holding a seven pointed star wand; Aaron Joyner, a young African-American who suggested the theme; a scary Hooded Skeleton of Fate; Andrew Adams Whyte, a local collector and patron in dark red robes, and Kris Benders, in a long black dress. 

Across the divide where the energies collide are: Technocrats: Susan Champeny, wearing headphones, David Allen in a khaki uniform from "Star Wars," Robert Cocrane wearing visored helmet, and Spike MacPhee, proprietor of the "Science Fantasy Bookstore" in Cambridge, Mass. Kris had been Spike's girlfriend but at the time of painting, Sue was in that role.

Some of these people are still active in fandom in the Boston area. Spike is a participant in the online world of "Second Life." Sue and Spike are long parted, and Andrew Adams Whyte passed away more than thirty years ago. As for the picture, Spike MacPhee bought it in 1982 and has it displayed in his virtual art gallery in "Second Life." It's a time capsule of what Boston fandom was like in the late 1970s. I was a wretched graduate student at Harvard at that time, but Harvard and I are long parted as well.

Ink and watercolor on Fabriano watercolor paper, 10" x 4", summer 1977. Click for larger view.