![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Star Wars Visions
Nov. 2nd, 2010 07:20 pmI finally finished going through Abrams' Star Wars Visions, which is a collection of fine art "interpretations" of the Star Wars films. According to the introduction by J.W. Rinzler, George Lucas himself came up with the idea about five years ago and it has taken this long to get all of the artists on board and get the book published.
Some of the artists are pretty well-known, like Moebius or H.R. Giger, while others I suppose are pretty well-known to specific genres. I noticed there were a lot of people known for their Western-themed art. I guess Lucas collects a lot of that kind of stuff.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there was a good balance of stuff represented from all of the SW movies. I worried before the book came out that it would be All OT All Of The Time. Some of the best pieces in the book were inspired by the prequel flicks, including one with Anakin and Padmé.
Interestingly enough, artists could choose any subject matter they wanted and while many stayed in-universe, there are plenty of pieces that "go nuts." Threepio walks among Native Americans, droids hang out at Mel's Diner, and a girl working a car hop looks suspiciously like Olivia Munn.
Even more interestingly enough, um, apparently nudity is "ok." If you ever wanted to see Aayla Secura naked, it's your lucky day. In fact, there are a lot of Twi'lek babes depicted in the book. The funny part is that if you read the notes about many of the paintings in the back, you'll see that for one of the Twi'lek Babe pieces, it was Lucas's idea. There's another huge piece, "The Struggle Behind The Mask" with nekkid figures, male and female. However, I can't figure out what this is supposed to be. Is it a representative of good and evil? Anakin and Padmé? Help me here, because it's either a bold and stunning piece or Vader is peeking at some kind of weird orgy.
I felt slightly disappointed that instead of a new Giger work, there was a painting he did in 1981. It was however, obviously inspired by Vader's costume design. But the biggest cop-out ripoff in the book was Jamie Wyeth's piece called "Night Vision" or something like that. Looking at it, you'd initially believe that it was maybe a portrait of Luke in his Gilligan hat from ANH. But reading the notes in the back, you'll see that it's actually a portrait of a Vietnam War soldier done a full decade before any SW movies ever came out along with the "excuse" that Vietnam like totally inspired Lucas. Come ON. If Wyeth was too busy, I'd rather see some kid's envelope art in its place. The idea was supposed to be that the art was inspired by the movies.
Overall though, this is a book worth buying. Go get it!
Some of the artists are pretty well-known, like Moebius or H.R. Giger, while others I suppose are pretty well-known to specific genres. I noticed there were a lot of people known for their Western-themed art. I guess Lucas collects a lot of that kind of stuff.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there was a good balance of stuff represented from all of the SW movies. I worried before the book came out that it would be All OT All Of The Time. Some of the best pieces in the book were inspired by the prequel flicks, including one with Anakin and Padmé.
Interestingly enough, artists could choose any subject matter they wanted and while many stayed in-universe, there are plenty of pieces that "go nuts." Threepio walks among Native Americans, droids hang out at Mel's Diner, and a girl working a car hop looks suspiciously like Olivia Munn.
Even more interestingly enough, um, apparently nudity is "ok." If you ever wanted to see Aayla Secura naked, it's your lucky day. In fact, there are a lot of Twi'lek babes depicted in the book. The funny part is that if you read the notes about many of the paintings in the back, you'll see that for one of the Twi'lek Babe pieces, it was Lucas's idea. There's another huge piece, "The Struggle Behind The Mask" with nekkid figures, male and female. However, I can't figure out what this is supposed to be. Is it a representative of good and evil? Anakin and Padmé? Help me here, because it's either a bold and stunning piece or Vader is peeking at some kind of weird orgy.
I felt slightly disappointed that instead of a new Giger work, there was a painting he did in 1981. It was however, obviously inspired by Vader's costume design. But the biggest cop-out ripoff in the book was Jamie Wyeth's piece called "Night Vision" or something like that. Looking at it, you'd initially believe that it was maybe a portrait of Luke in his Gilligan hat from ANH. But reading the notes in the back, you'll see that it's actually a portrait of a Vietnam War soldier done a full decade before any SW movies ever came out along with the "excuse" that Vietnam like totally inspired Lucas. Come ON. If Wyeth was too busy, I'd rather see some kid's envelope art in its place. The idea was supposed to be that the art was inspired by the movies.
Overall though, this is a book worth buying. Go get it!
