Mead

by Syd Mead

Large-format (11-3/4x16-1/2") catalog for 1983 Syd Mead exhibition ("innovator in design of the future") at the Laforet Museum in Japan. Minimal text in English and Japanese. Art includes 24 full-page color illustrations plus 8 black-and-white pages, with conceptual automotive and science-fiction subjects. Vellum end pages. Very rare.

40 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

Sydney Jay Mead, commonly Syd Mead (born July 18, 1933), is an American industrial designer and neofuturistic concept artist, widely known for his designs for science-fiction films such as Blade Runner, Aliens and Tron. Mead once said, "I've called science fiction 'reality ahead of schedule.'"

Mead's work has received wide note, and, in 2017, Curbed called Mead "the artist who illustrates the future".

Born on 18 July 1933 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Mead graduated from high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1951. After serving a three-year enlistment in the U.S. Army, Mead attended the Art Center School in Los Angeles (now the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena), where he graduated in June 1959. He was recruited by Ford Motor Company's Advanced Styling Studio by Elwood Engel. Mead left Ford after two years to illustrate books and catalogues for companies including United States Steel, Celanese, Allis-Chalmers and Atlas Cement. In 1970, he launched Syd Mead, Inc. in Detroit with clients including Philips Electronics.

In 1979, Mead worked with major studios on the feature films Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner, Tron, 2010, Short Circuit, Aliens, Timecop, Johnny Mnemonic and Mission: Impossible III.