An eye-popping collection of fantastical, imaginative, pop- surrealist, and just plain twisted contemporary figurative art, executed with top- notch technique and mad skills by some of the finest and most influential artists working today. This book presents the work of 50 contemporary artists of the Surreal Art, Fantastic Realism, and Visionary Art traditions. The publishers have endeavored to compile a balanced publication, showing the extremes of both "light" and "dark" themes. The two extremes are usually presented separately, but here they are together under the umbrella of human experience. It features the work of extablished artists such as Ernst Fuchs, Alex Grey, Kris Kuski, Brom, and Robert Venosa, alongside that of relatively unknown, though extraordinary, artists, bringing a host of new artists into the public eye. The Metamorphosis series provides exposure for artists who express themselves imaginatively with exceptional technique and uncompromised individuality. Metamorphosis showcases this ever- expanding international movement of figurative artists who have resisted current trends in the art world and remained true to their artistic vision. Hardcover, color.
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4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The art of self promotion?,
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This review is from: Metamorphosis: 50 Contemporary Surreal, Fantastic and Visionary Artists (Hardcover)
This book is by Jon Beinart. It is a collection of artworks and illustrations which are accompanied with short summaries on the works and biographies on the artists all written by the artists and illustrators themselves. The book was edited by freelance editor, Robyn Flemming.
The first thing that should be emphasised is that this book is by Beinart, and it features Beinart's own work within his publication. Beinart's web presence is maintained by his collaborator Leo Plaw; Leo Plaw's work too is featured in this publication. Another of the artists to feature is Brigid Marlin; she "founded" the "Society for Art of Imagination" (as stated in this book). The "Society for Art of Imagination" is listed at the back of the book as one of the sponsors of this book. Another of the sponsors is "ArtVisionary" magazine. Though the founder of "ArtVisionary" (Damian Michaels) does not have any of his works reproduced in this book, his works appear in the subsequent edition of this book "Metamorphosis 2". Other artists whose works appear are: - Andrew Gonzalez, whose works are airbrushed versions of the compositions of the Symbolist artist Jean Delville (eg Delville's Parsifal, 1890, The Love of Souls, 1900, etc). At least one of the Gonzalez images in this book is from the collection of "ArtVisionary" (as per the catalogues "Fantastic Art" and "Fantastic and Visionary Art" that accompanied the Orange Regional Gallery exhibition, & Orange Gallery Touring Exhibition, in Australia, 2003-2004); another work, this time by Kim Evans, is also part of the ArtVisionary collection (also exhibited in the Orange Gallery exhibition). A few of the other artists, whose works appear in this book, such as Ernst Fuchs, are also represented by "ArtVisionary" (even if the works in this book are not part of the ArtVisionary collection). There is an overall lack of thematic consistency in the works that appear, other than that the works that are reproduced seem to have been chosen because they might be called "imaginary" in some way. Hence, the works of illustrators - such as "Brom" (whose works though technically good, are fantasy illustrations, not art) - are included. Of greater concern is the complete ignorance of art history and theory, and an ignorance of the importance of originality in defining fine art. Some of the artists whose works appear show them to be no more than pasticheurs, or imitations of other artists. Gonzalez, one such pasticheur, has already been mentioned. Another is Philip Rubinov Jacobson, whose definitive work, "The Mission" (which exists in several versions), is a clumsy repainting of John Martin's "The Destruction of Tyre", of 1840, in which Rubinov Jacobson has merely added floating figures. The works of Alex Grey which also appear in this book are not much more than pastiches of the works of Tchelitchev (who died in the mid-twentieth century). The work of Leo Plaw (Beinart's collaborator), merely attempts to emulate Australian artist James Gleeson (Gleeson's "psychoscapes"), though Plaw has increasingly incorporated elements from the works of Roberto Venosa. The "imaginary" element in Beinart's own work (eg his drawing titled "crumbling beauty"), is the inclusion of cascading human figures, to replace the hair. This is derived from André Martin De Barros' painting "Les Conquetes D'un Cow-boy" (which is also reproduced in this book). And the works of De Barros himself are are hardly original, based squarely on Archimboldo, specifically, the "Counterpart" by Archimboldo which accompanied his "Eve with Apple" of 1578. Despite my criticisms, there is some good art reproduced (by Ernst Fuchs for instance), and the dimensions of the book are large enough to do justice to the images reproduced. However, this book seems to be more a self-promotional catalogue of the works of the publisher, his associates, and "sponsors", with some additional artists thrown in to pad out the publication to make the self-promotional element less obvious.
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