In The Garden Of Unearthly Delights: The Paintings of Josh Kirby

by Josh Kirby, Nigel Suckling

With his unbounded imagination, and taste for turning the laws of nature on their head, painter Josh Kirby has become a favorite of science fiction authors and a top-flight creator of wickedly clever film posters. This collection of his exuberant works is a sheer delight, featuring covers for the Savage Scorpio series; a selection from Kirby’s magnum opus Voyage of the Ayeguy, portraits of Hitchcock; and a film poster for Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2000

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nice collection of fantasy art. beautiful pics. Recommended

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very unusual style, with enormously detailed eye-popping color paintings. Although he paints in somewhat of a Vallejo/Frazetta tradition (i.e., lots of babes crawling over dragons and ogres with ginormous boobies restrained by gravity-defying dental floss), he puts just as much detail into every other element of his paintings, from the lizard faces to the furniture to the sky.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sitting in bed with spidermans' disease (a constant stream of web fluid blasting from the nostrils), this book was a nice read brilliant Kirby artwork and uncomplicated text.

Spiderman, Spiderman does whatever a spider can... Three buckets of snot and swinging with yer nose.

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things Kirby has on common w Giger;

> EXTREMELY horny.
> Religious overtones (he did a whole sci fi/fantasy stations of the cross series.
> Hyper complex patterns & textures flow through the images.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok i will admit it I am a sucker for Paper Tiger books - I was introduced to them years ago by my brother and ever since then I have always been keeping my eyes open for more of them. Many of them in the past have shown of the work of artists who have done work I recognise and love but never really been able to pin down. Josh Kirby is a perfect example - sadly no longer with us - he is instantly recognisable as the artist who brought us the amazing covers to the early Terry Pratchett's but I now see that several other pieces I have are also his too.
Just goes to show that there is always something out there that can still surprise and amaze you.

[Loyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book of fantasy art is a warmed over mash-up of Vaughn Bodé, Frank Frazetta, and the guy who does the Dinotopia books. Kirby has some talent, but it's like a lot of current fantasy artists: no focus, and a throw everything at the wall mentality.