Tropical Sunburst by Rafael Alonso

'Tropical Sunburst' inkjet print on paper by Rafael Alonso, 2018. Bold white lines radiate from two overlapping, seemingly pulsating, circles just above the centre of this print. The vibrant background colour grades from orange at the top to red at the bottom.

One of three proposals produced for the Science Museum's commission to design the poster campaign of the exhibition 'The Sun: Living with our Star' in 2018. In this proposal Alonso's design evokes the sun as a scientific object, the subject of optics, as well as the retinal effects caused by staring at the sun for too long. This was the first exhibition poster that the museum commissioned from an artist. Alonso is based in Rio de Janeiro and has long been drawn to the dazzling but distant presence of our nearest star. His work adds an example of South American modernism to the rich series of images in the museum’s art collection that respond to the sun. ‘Tropical Sunburst’ was not chosen for the exhibition marketing. The other two designs are 2019-75 and 2019-364.