“Celestial Realities” 1972 Ivar Zapp Large Prismacolor Geometric Drawing Vorpal Gallery Sf

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A hypnotic piece of early-1970s visionary art: “Celestial Realities,” an intricately rendered Prismacolor pencil drawing by Ivar Zapp, dated 1972 … Read more A hypnotic piece of early-1970s visionary art: “Celestial Realities,” an intricately rendered Prismacolor pencil drawing by Ivar Zapp, dated 1972 and originally sold at San Francisco’s Vorpal Gallery the same year.

Founded by Muldoon Elder in San Francisco in 1961, Vorpal Gallery spent over four decades championing artists working in complex geometric and surreal territory — most famously bringing M.C. Escher’s work to American audiences. This drawing sits squarely in that lineage: tessellated hexagonal fields, nested platonic solids, and rainbow-ribboned spheres unfold across the composition with the kind of obsessive, mathematical precision that defines the genre.

The piece is signed “IVZ” and bears its original studio label on the reverse, reading “Celestial Realities, Ivar Zapp, 1972, Prismacolor Pencil,” originally priced at $1,500, alongside a Vorpal Gallery sticker confirming the sale.

Framed dimensions: 32.75” H x 47.75” W. Presented in a silver-toned linen-wrapped frame with brass fillet, under glass.

A rare survivor of the psychedelic/sacred-geometry gallery scene — the kind of piece that rewards close looking, and conversation.

Please see its companion piece in my other listing! It has more info on Ivar Zapp as well. See less