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To ‘Dune’ and beyond: The interstellar hyper-realism of Wojciech Siudmak
09.26.2017
09:41 am
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“Le Regard Gourmand” (“The Gourmet Look”), a painting by Wojciech Siudmak.
 
Polish artist Wojciech Siudmak‘s contributions to the world of science fiction and fantasy art are as vast as the space that is inhabited by our solar system and beyond. Though it is easy to classify Siudmak as a surrealist, the artist himself prefers to operate under the banner of “fantastic hyper-realism” which is also a more than accurate way to describe Siudmak’s stellar work.

In his bio, Siudmak does align himself with surrealist Salvador Dali as it pertains the incorporation of 3-D images in his paintings. Born in Wieluń, Poland in 1942, Siudmak soon moved to France in the mid-60s where he still resides today. In his late 20s and 30s, Siudmak got work along with a small group of like-minded artists whose work was used by certain publishers of science fiction/fantasy books and magazines. Widely considered one of the most significant contributors to the realm of fantastic realism, Siudmak is admired by people and art scholars around the world. Here are a few words from one of the masters of Italian cinema, the great Federico Fellini on Siudmak’s remarkable talent:

“What boundless fantasy and what prodigious ability to make it come true. An almost unbelievable talent, more gifted and infinite of the one who guides, expresses himself and invents our richest dreams.”

Some of you may have seen Siudmak’s work in a covetable Polish edition of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune. The artist created approximately 70 illustrations for the book which were displayed in galleries and museums across Europe starting in 2008. His spacey artwork has also been used as album art for German prog-rock band Eloy (who adapted their name from fictional evolutionary humans “The Eloi” in H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine) and Massachusetts-based rock band, Boston. Siudmak’s work is the topic of several books, including the beautiful 2015 publication simply titled, Siudmak. I’ve posted a large array of Siudmak’s work that includes many of his illustrations for Dune below for you to ponder—some are slightly NSFW.
 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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09.26.2017
09:41 am
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