“Perimeter Check” oil on gesso
Greg Manchess
Early in my career, I had ideas for all sorts of paintings, most of which were inspired by OMNI Magazine which showcased a fine art approach to science fiction art. They only bought reproduction rights for completed paintings in those days. Rarely did they commission new paintings.
I was interested in stockpiling a bunch of paintings that they could choose from for their fictional stories. Trouble was, I didn’t have the skills to do them the way I imagined at the time. Over the years of painting in the advertising and editorial aspects of the illustration field, I developed the skills I needed. I’ve only now decided that many of those ideas still work.
So I’ve been painting them.
Like the “Ambush” piece, I will showcase “Perimeter Check” at Spectrum LIVE…coming up in a couple of weeks!
I loved Omni Greg, especially when they put my teacher's work (James Christensen) on the cover. Had this dream of being in Omni too but sadly I was even further behind than you. I wish they would come back now just so we could see if they would take our work.
Great story in “Perimeter Check”. But that's one of the many things you do so well. Really looking forward to seeing you again at SFAL2.
Love it, raises so many questions that we can only imagine…
Thanks!
You've painted an obscure foreground and background, the main characters have no faces, and everything in shadow falls into mystery…….yet I can't help but keep looking, wanting to know more about who they are, and where they are at.
I see now….light bulbs are exploding in my head.
Great painting!
I think OMNI would be able to capture attention again, Bill. It was right at the time, and I can't see how that's changed much at all. But the magazine irritated me as a reader at one point: when readership dropped a little below what they anticipated, they kept trying to make it compete with all the wrong magazines around it!
It went from standing alone with class, to sitting on the bottom shelf trying to compete with Biker magazine. And they did this by destroying the clean design, running all the stupid titles on the cover and basically giving in to where all the other mags were. Just irritating.
If you love the genre, stay with that love. That's what sells magazines. But I digress….: )
Will be good to see you again as well!
Luis and Jared…..you got it! I love that mystery, even though….heh heh heh….I know what's going on in MY head about this….: )
G
I just love this kind of imagery Greg, it's something different and refreshing than other sic-fi images I see at times.
Greg, you could use this as a series of paintings telling a story without words, just letting the viewer imagine whats going on and interpreting the dialogue for themselves(does that sound too crazy?).
Cheers,
Rick.
I love that kind of approach, Rick….not crazy at all. In fact, I've written a book around my painting, “Above The Timberline.” Mostly paintings. In fact, full color on every page. It'll be fun.
Something like this one or 'Ambush' could really be just images, and it would still work, I think.
Glad you'd like to see that….gives me a good nod. Thanks!
G
wonderful! I also would love to see such a book.
Good to see you going back to your roots. I used to love Omni growing up. There was nothing like it at the time, and those covers! I too remember when it it starting going down hill. I remember seeing it at a newsstand, and noticing that it was about half its usual size. Sigh.
Jim R.