BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.- The Art Gallery of the University of Maryland presents Magical Adventures: Fantasy Art from The Frank Collection and includes 62 original paintings, drawings, mix media, and sculptures by 49 of the most significant American and British artists of this genre.

Fantasy art as a popular genre has earned a reputation for its beauty, craftsmanship, and attention to detail. The exhibited works, closely intertwined with popular culture, illustrate themes of departure from the real world to that of the impossible, unconventional, magical and fantastical. The viewer can recognize familiar themes, often drawn from Greek mythology and European and Eastern traditions. Many paintings include fairies, dragons, masculine heroes -from Tarzan to Batman-, idealized women, damsels in distress, and vampires, while others include dark or scary imagery such as skulls, devils, and witches. Fantasy art, the art of the imagination that depicts struggles between Good and Evil, the weak and the strong, knights and dragons, is an art form appealing to our sense of childlike playfulness. The exhibition was curated by Jane Frank and The Art Gallery's staff.