Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 1999: A ProCreations® Poster

1999
by Hugh Ricks

Twenty-first in the series by Hugh Ricks. The artist, creator of four previous best-selling Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta posters, created a diptych (dual image print) celebrating both the Balloon Fiesta and the Fiesta's hosting of the prestigious 43rd Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett international gas balloon event. The two panoramic scenes parallel each other and display the magic of the venue. The hot air rendering recreates the glowing, star-filled sky over the Sangre de Christo mountains at first light as the balloons pierce the luminescent dawn. The Gordon Bennett image envisions the same locale filled with large, helium- filled balloons traversing the sky.

This was the year the Breitling-Orbiter 3 gas balloon made its historic around-the-world voyage. The images were originally rendered in pastel on black museum board using such a rich blending of color that the artist calls the artwork “paintings” rather than drawings. Both silk- screen collectibles are printed on archival vellum paper.

Editions:

a limited-edition serigraph in an artist-signed and numbered edition of 1,250 prints, 34" x 25";
an unsigned edition of 2,500 match- numbered poster pairs (each measuring 32" X 12") of the separate gas and hot air balloon images

® AIBF. Image ©1999 ProCreations Publishing Company / Text ©1999 ProCreations Publishing Company