Barry Windsor-Smith : Opus Vol. 2 [Hardcover]

Barry Windsor-Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Barry Windsor-Smith | Publication Date: March 1, 2001

A combination autobiography, New Age meditation and art book. In "Time Rise," the artist continues his exploration of expanded consciousness and transcendence, in a tale told with great candor and charm. With his previous book, BWS: Opus Vol. 1 (when released, Fantagraphics' all-time quickest selling book), Barry Windsor-Smith joined the ranks of the experiencers and researchers at the new frontiers of consciousness and the revolutionary crossroads of reality. After astonishing encounters with precognition and time loops the artist found himself on a transcendental journey into another dimension of time and space. Now, in the second volume of the Opus series, Windsor-Smith continues his autobiography called "Time Rise." Following his bizarre interdimensional journey, the young superstar of Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian fame discovers that he has acquired advanced psychic abilities! This is the true story of the artist's struggles to deal with the transcendental, yet maddening, effects of meta-consciousness. In addition to Windsor-Smith's groundbreaking text, Opus is, of course, also a deluxe art collection, featuring the renowned artist's never-before-published paintings and drawings, as well as gorgeous, evocative artworks culled from over thirty years of comics art, comic strips, illustration, and sketchbooks. Color and black-and-white illustrations throughout

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second volume of Windsor-Smith's planned five-volume memoir continues the episodic narrative of his "sudden expansion of consciousness" during the early 1970s. Set in New York City, this autobiography explores visionary experiences that shook the foundations of his conception of reality. Told in a matter-of-fact, confessional tone that belies the incredible tale he offers, this book is part biography, part metaphysics treatise on the nature of consciousness, as well as a stunning collection of the art he has produced over a 30-year span. Early in '73, as Windsor-Smith labors over his drawing table, a disembodied voice begins questioning his chosen course in life. Later, the secondhand furniture in his apartment communicates vivid, tragic memories of former owners. He sees "light people" (beings apparently from another plane of existence) walking the streets of Manhattan and is convinced that the pedestrians walking next to him are zombies. These fantastic reminiscences culminate in a "time tunnel" that carries him back to his boyhood bedroom, where he watches his younger self quivering in fear of his own visitation. His lengthy reflections on the time loops, precognition, psychometry, astral travel, telepathy all described as firsthand experience are fascinating, although his dense text is sometimes ponderous and self-indulgent. His prodigious artistic output is represented with richly detailed reproductions of sketches, drawings, watercolors and oil paintings from his Conan the Barbarian period to his Pre-Raphaelite-style romantic fantasies. While not as groundbreaking as Windsor-Smith may suggest, this is nonetheless a compelling and beautiful book.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In the early 1970s, Windsor-Smith took the comic book scene by storm, changing what comic book art could be. While Neal Adams, Gil Kane, and others brought impressive realism to comics, Windsor-Smith showed that comic book illustrations could also be art. Breathtaking, sweeping, majestic, and intoxicatingly realistic, his work, especially in the early Conan the Barbarian issues, broke down the doors of what was possible in comics, if only for a while. Unfortunately, Windsor-Smith's work has since curled back on its well-muscled self, making this book an invaluable resource to budding comic book artists eager to see what this art form really has to offer. Alongside the reproductions of his artwork, Windsor-Smith writes of the often strange experiences that fueled his creativity. The tales of what went on behind his efforts enhance the art, but the work itself makes both volumes invaluable to all libraries. [For a review of Volume 1, see LJ 10/15/99. Ed.]. Chris Ryan,New Milford, N.
-. Chris Ryan,New Milford, NJ
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; 1st trade ed. edition (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560973935
• ISBN-13: 978-1560973935
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,285,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars THROUGH TIME & SPACE, May 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Barry Windsor-Smith : Opus Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

Barry Windsor-Smith's second volume of his metaphysical autobiography is much better designed than the first and features some rather nice comicbook-style drawings, but it feels less "meaty" than Opus 1, despite being slightly longer. There is simply not enough works included that represent why he's deserving of a pricey second art book. Regardless of his goals, Barry Windsor-Smith is a comic artist best known for being the first to handle Marvel's adaptation of Conan. That's pretty much his legacy. His subsequent poster business and ultimate return to comics all hinged on the impact of his Conan comics nearly 30 years ago. The samples included in Opus 2 that illustrate his significance to comics and fantasy art in general are welcome--there's just not enough of it. Instead the book leans heavily toward Smith's stiff and pale Rossetti and Burne-Jones imitations. Perhaps they are meant to compliment his meandering text as he tries to explain his supposed paranormal experiences in 1973, but they become tiresome quickly. For all his pronouncements and posturing, Smith seems to have reached a plateau early in his career and simply stopped challenging himself. He has very little to say artistically and appears to be trying to make up for it with New Age babble about his precognitive links to Roger Waters. I don't think I'll return for Opus 3.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's tough being Barry, August 11, 2007

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Barry Windsor-Smith : Opus Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

For one thing, being a genius takes a lot of hard work, all the time. It never lets up - if it does, that means you're not a genius any more. BWS is a brilliant illustrator and very good (dare I say it?) artist. Years of training and execution show in his work and in his biographical notes. If one must criticize, that criticism would be the visual analog of Emperor Joseph II's critique of Bach: "Too many notes."

The artwork here is wonderful, but I wish there were more of it. That brings us to the next part of why being Barry is so hard - the majority of this book is BWS's autobiographical writings, centered on events and perceptions that no one else in the room is likely to have seen. These are major events in his life, truly path-changing, and I fully trust that he describes the subjective experience as well as his words can. But many of these events are not the kind of things that another observer - a camera, say, or some person with just the usual five senses - would corroborate. Because this drama unfolds in ways accessible only to Barry, I find that it is not accessible to me.

I examined and enjoyed Opus 1, but I admit that I skipped most of the text and skimmed what little I read at all. Since text predominates in this book, it demanded more of my attention. I wish it hadn't.

-- wiredweird

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank You Barry Windsor Smith, October 27, 2009

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Charles R. Lister "Spitfire" (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Barry Windsor-Smith : Opus Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

Just a few quick lines to express my gratitude to the artist, not only for doing these wonderful paintings and drawings, but for speaking candidly about experiences that have shaped your vision. I have followed your work for nearly thirty years now and whenever I see BWS on something I know that it will be a thing of great quality and beauty. Opus 1 and Opus 2 now reside on my shelf beside my copy of The Studio (My third one, as I have already loved two other copies to pieces...) and a couple of treasured Epic Illustrated Magazines that feature your covers and interviews. I hope that these words of appreciation find you in good health and enjoying the continued success you so richly deserve.