35 years into its existence and with so many of its prophecies realized, it has become extremely difficult to comprehend just how unique, all-encompassing and utterly miraculous was the creation of EPCOT Center. A pathetically insignificant cartoon studio, led by the single greatest creative mind of the 20th Century, had grown to give birth to entirely new art forms, pioneered amazing technologies, created Kingdoms and established new Worlds. And on October 1st, 1982 actually performed what today would seem chronologically impossible: Walt Disney Productions quite literally transported us over 20 years into the future. And not without purpose...
The world EPCOT Center was born into may not have been the most lethal but it was most assuredly one of the darkest for the human spirit. At great financial risk and personal sacrifice Disney, General Electric, Sperry Computers, Exxon, Kodak, General Motors, Kraft, American Express, Coke-Cola, & United Technologies banded together to elevate humanity out of a global depression and restore hope to the passengers of Spaceship Earth.
Signaling this audaciously avant-garde endeavor was an austerely mysterious masterpiece of minimalist futurism. The geodesic icon of this new center depicted as that which it was being created to symbolize what Ray Bradbury described as a "small, silent and fragile island drifting in the night sky".
Originally created by graphic designer Norm Inouye, this painting has been lovingly (and obsessively) re-created dozens of times by yours truly over the years, and this is merely my latest attempt to capture the essence of its streamlined serenity.
