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An ethereal metal steampunk fish and a rusting steamboat-influenced factory structure suspended above an alien world are just two examples of Polish artist Adam Tredowski's texture-rich approaches to science fiction. The somewhat mysterious 33-year-old currently lives in England and has won many online awards for his work. There’s a satisfyingly organic feel to Tredowski’s work, but you can also see the nuts and bolts, the wear and tear. Metal fatigue welded to something beautiful, often awe-inspiring. But we’ll let Tredowski’s gallery and his answers to our interview questions speak for themselves, below. More »
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The career of Les Edwards, otherwise known as “Edward Miller,” has taken an interesting path through horror to SF/F through the medium of “the New Weird.” Edwards already had a considerable body of work behind him in the 1980s and 1990s, including posters for movies like Nightbreed and The Thing, illustrations for the Clive Barker graphic novels Rawhead Rex and Son of Celluloid, and cover art for Metallica’s single “Jump in the Fire.” And now his dark cover art is among the most recognizable in SF. We talk to Edwards about his work and his alter ego Edward Miller, and take you on a tour of his most inventive art, after the jump. More »
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Welcome back to Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Bonni Reid often displays an uncanny meshing of the real and the surreal in her artwork—it's as if she's recording something odd or disturbing that's just happened in her backyard. Some of her strangest work takes the form of what appear to be formal portraits. “Deadpan” is also an apt description of her art. However, there’s also an underlying sense of play or the mischievous. Full-blown humor comes out in Reid’s work as a color designer for animation productions, including six seasons of Cartoon Network’s Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy. We talked to Reid about her work, and put together a gallery of her best stuff. More »
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Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, a biweekly column from Ann & Jeff VanderMeer about the intersection between art and the fantastic. In La Jolla, California, a very unusual art exhibit called Fantastic Contraption has been on display most of the summer. The best way to think of the aesthetic impulse behind this exhibit is as a meshing of the organic and the inorganic. Hosted by The Device Gallery (founded by Gregory and Amy Brotherton), it features the work of, among others, Mike Libby, H.R. Giger, Kazuhiko Nakamura, Ashley Wood, Nemo Gould, and Gregory Brotherton himself. More »
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Welcome to The Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's bimonthly column on the intersection of art and the fantastic. Self-described “dinosaur nerd” and “friend to robots” Greg Broadmore recently wrote and illustrated Dr. Grordborts Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory—a serious critical study of the excesses of British colonialism. Well, okay, we’re joking. There is a certain Lord Cockswain, “a blustering great white hunter and full time retard,” doing un-PC things in goofish fashion in the back of the book, but mainly Broadmore’s latest features a stunning display of steampunkish (puckish?) rayguns. Lots and lots of rayguns. With long and lugubrious names. More »
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Welcome back to Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's biweekly column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. It may be hard to understand now just how fresh and different Mike Mignola’s Hellboy was when the first installment, Seeds of Destruction, came out from Dark Horse Comics in 1994. Wise-cracking anti-heroes have always been around, whether in comics or other media. But Mignola went a step further: he brought in Boys from Brazil-style Nazi bad guys, monsters that could rival Lovecraft’s Old Ones for sheer alien intensity, a cast of fascinating supporting characters, and a mysterious past for Big Red himself. What made it work, however, was his approach to the art. We've got an interview with Mignola below, as well as a gallery of his art. More »
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Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's column on the intersection of art and the fantastic. Tentacular horrors, unnamable evils, and quests to the edges of alien-landscapes-on-earth like Antarctica were just some of the beautifully bizarre features of H.P. Lovecraft's weird fiction. Creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraft has had an enormous influence on readers and writers. But what about art? Ever since the first pulp covers showcasing Lovecraft's fiction, visual creators have been interpreting his tentacular horrors, unnamable evils, and odd quests. Now, Centipede Press has issued one of the most audacious hardcover art books we have ever seen: The Art of Lovecraft: Artists Inspired by Lovecraft. More »
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Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Bruce Jensen is an artist whose work you’ve probably seen more times than you can remember. Over seven seasons, his art montages formed the backdrop to hundreds of segments on the CBS show 60 Minutes II. Jensen has also done cover art for such classics as Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash and The Diamond Age. His work tends toward bold color choices, using a style that can be whimsical or more severe, recalling the architectural surrealism of an artist like Magritte. More »
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Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, a biweekly column on the intersection of science fiction and art by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. One of the best science fiction graphic novels from the past few years doesn't use any words. It doesn't even come from our world. Deliberately weathered and made to look like a children's book left behind by a UFO, A.L.I.E.E.E.N. by Lewis Trondheim features duck-faced, frog-faced, and pig-faced aliens doing terrible things to one another. On any given page you might find something cute doing something cute, only to have it all go south Real Fast. The art style is a subversive take on Hello Kitty but in terms of what's happening, it's Saw mixed with Alien Autopsy. More »
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