Wow!!
This last weekend was my birthday, (it aint none of yer business how old I am...) and my wonderful wife surprised me with a road trip to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania to visit the world renowned :
FRANK FRAZETTA ART GALLERY!
All that I can say is this: If you ever get a chance to see a Frazetta original oil painting (or his watercolors, pencils or inks , for that matter...) you have absolutely gotta do it! We are talking images that are hailed the world over as some of the most recognizable and incredible pieces of fantasy art of all time. Though the subject matter he chose was science fiction, fantasy and horror, his color, skill and technique is undeniably world class. I have a long list of artist/illustrators I collect and admire, but none come close to Frank Frazetta. He is truly a master.
I remember a book purchased for me by my mom when I was a kid called: "BACK TO THE STONE AGE": By Edgar Rice Burroughs. The cover had a heavily muscled blonde warrior with spear in hand staggering towards a gigantic wooley mammoth whose head was literally splitting the forest before him asunder! This image simply took me to another realm in my appreciation of paperback book cover art. For the first time I could actually see that this was a painting on the cover. For the first time I felt moved as much by the technique of the artist as the scene he was depicting. I could see the brush-strokes, the underpainting, and even the canvas beneath! And it was awesome!
For the first time I am posting art other than my own on my blog. These paintings moved me when I first saw them in the bookstore as a kid, and move me even more as an adult when I see the actually canvasses themselves. I strongly urge that you go to the official (Frank Frazetta) Website and get more information on the man and his gallery in the Pocono Mountains.
I want to thank my wife Tracy again for this incredible trip. And for the signed, numbered and framed Masters Deluxe art print she bought me of Frank Frazetta's THE MAMMOTH while we were at the gallery.
Shes even gonna let me hang it in the living room...
