Saturday, May 10, 2008

Masters of Deception: Rob Gonzalves.

The last painting, which is the one used as the book's front cover art. "The Sun sets Sail", acrylic on canvas, 2001:
Here is a link to a big collection of his work, 37 paintings.

Masters of Deception: Sandre Del-Prete.

Another couple of scans from "Masters of Deception" to convince people to check out this book. "A Secret between Leaves", 1991, colored pencil drawing:"Homage to Leonardo da Vinci", 1992, colored pencil drawing:

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Maker of Patterns.

A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.
G.H. Hardy

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Masters of Deception: Rex Whistler.

Today I returned "Masters of Deception" to the library, but before I made some promotional scans :-). Here are some works of Rex Whistler (1905-1944). It has such a vintage feel to it, and the work itself is very interesting. It's the same drawings, just flipped by 180 degrees.
"Change of Expression", undated pencil drawing:
"A King and his Queen":
"Surprise!":
Excerpt from the Wikipedia article (much the same, although a bit less detailed story is given in "Masters..."):

On the hot and stuffy 18th July his tank, after crossing a railway line, drove over some felled telegraph wires beside the railway, which became entangled in its tracks. He and the crew got out to free the tank from the wire when a German machine gunner opened fire on them, preventing them from getting back into their tank. Whistler dashed across an open space of 60 yards to another tank to instruct its commander, a Sergeant Lewis Sherlock, to return the fire. As he climbed down from Sherlock's tank a mortar bomb exploded beside him and killed him instantly, throwing him into the air. He was the first fatality suffered by the Battalion in the Normandy Campaign.

Agent Smith as Carl Sagan.

it's absolutely hilarious:



In order to get the joke, we need to know about Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Here is a good short clip to get acquainted with the show, and certainly enough to enjoy the joke above. It's also a very good explanation of the concept of 4th dimension, so no time will be wasted: