Customer Reviews

Spectrum 10: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art (Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art) (No. 10)

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Sci-Fi and Fantasy artists have always seemed like illustration's poor step-children, often ignored (and sometimes sneered at) while the historical and Western painters wore the mantel of respectability. Thank goodness Spectrum came along to point out to the naysayers that Art is Art and that the practitioners of "fantastic" art are as gifted as anyone working today (if not better).

Spectrum 10 is chocked-full of beautiful and imaginative work by veterans and fresh faces alike. Personal favorites include the previously unpublished gallery paintings by jillion-times-Hugo-winner Michael Whelan, the Expressionist-flavored space ships by John Berkey, the monsterously proportioned toy robots by Eric Joyner, and the fantasy scenarios of Paul Bonner. There's art for films, paintings for books, sculptures (which I personally enjoy seeing), and work from comics; serious, mature pieces followed by wonderfully whacky and whimisical images. There's really something for everyone. It's fun to go through the book and compare the judges' selection of award-winners in each category with what *I* think should have won.

And thank goodness someone has finally acknowledged Michael Kaluta (#10's Grand Master Award recipient) as one of the most worthwhile illustrators working today. Kudos to the Spectrum Board!

About the only downsides are the occasional typos and several pages with cramped lay-outs, but all-in-all a must-have book for anyone with an imagination--and at a bargain price at that!

I recently purchased Spectrum 9, 10, and 11. These books are absolutely wonderful, and I would recommend them to any artist or fan of fantasy/sci fi art. They are extremely well put together, of high quality (reproduction wise), have a large number and variety of artists, and contain some of the most beautiful works of art I have seen. Some of the subject matter can be disturbing or somewhat sexual in nature (certainly nothing explicit, but not exactly innocent either), so I wouldn't recomend them for the very young (12 or under?) if you are a parent. These books are worth every penny and highly recommended.

This is a wonderful book and I would recommend this to anyone interested in sci-fi/fantasy art. This book is even better than it's predessesors also. I think anyone who enjoyed the other spectrum books will enjoy this.