Roger Dean (artist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Roger Dean, DragonCon 2008
Roger Dean logo
Freyja's Castle (1987), showing Dean's characteristic landscapes, with organic-looking constructions.
For other persons named Roger Dean, see Roger Dean.

Roger "Dillon Peterson" Dean (born 31 August 1944), is an English artist, designer, architect and publisher. He is best known for his work on album covers for musicians which he began painting in the late 1960s. The covers usually feature exotic, fantastic landscapes.

Contents

[edit] Life and work

Pathways (1973), from an album cover which depicts a scene with one of Dean's famous floating islands touched down on water.

Dean was born in Ashford, Kent but he spent most of his childhood moving around the world with his British Army father. The family returned to England in 1959 where he was educated at The Norton Knatchbull School. He later earned a National Diploma of Design from the Canterbury School of Art. In 1968, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. He has lived in Brighton since 1972.

[edit] Invention vs design

Beginning in the field of design, he preferred to distinguish between design (the reworking of existing models), and invention (making something new). One of his inventions was the "sea urchin chair." It was a foam chair, which, though appearing spherical, would conform to the sitter, who could obtain a seated position of varying angles. Later, he was asked to design a "landscape" of similar seating for a club belonging to Ronnie Scott.[1] His "retreat pod" chair design was featured in the film A Clockwork Orange.

[edit] Album covers

His first album cover work was in 1968 for a group called Gun. In 1971, Dean produced the cover for the first album by the African/Caribbean band Osibisa which attracted widespread attention to his work. Later that year, he began the partnership with the progressive rock band Yes for which he is best known. His first design for the band was for their album Fragile. Dean designed the now-classic Yes "bubble" logo, which first appeared on the album Close to the Edge, and continued to create covers for the band until as recently as 1999 (The Ladder). Yes guitarist Steve Howe said, "There is a pretty tight bond between our sound and Roger's art." In addition to their album covers, Dean also contributed to his brother Martyn Dean's stage set designs for the band.[2]

Known primarily for the dreamy, other-worldly scenes he has created for Yes, Budgie, Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant and other bands, Dean has said, "I don't really think of myself as a fantasy artist but as a landscape painter." Characteristic landscapes show graceful stone arches (as shown in Arches Mist, below) or floating islands, while many paintings show organic appearing habitats (such as shown in the cover for Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe). Though he primarily works with watercolour paints, many of his paintings make use of multiple media, including gouache, ink, enamel, crayon and collage. In addition to his cover paintings, Dean is respected for his calligraphic work, designing logos and titles to go with his paintings.

Arches Mist, 1996. Another characteristic image, a moody landscape, showing fantastic natural features.

[edit] Video game art

Beginning in 1985 with the software company Psygnosis, Dean has been responsible for the cover artwork for several video games, including Shadow of the Beast, Tetris Worlds as well as a redesign of the Tetris logo.[3]

[edit] Publishing

Three compilations of his work have been published, including Views (1975)[1] (the success of which led him to form publishing house Paper Tiger Books) and Magnetic Storm (1984).[2] In addition, his architectural and furniture work have been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the Royal Academy. The third publication of Dean's works, Dragon's Dream, was released in 2008.

[edit] Film project

In early 2005, Dean announced plans to create a feature film titled Floating Islands. This film will be produced by Roger Dean and David Mousley. The story is based on the underlying theme depicted in the album artwork for Yes. It will feature animated 3D renderings of classic Dean images and music by Yes.

[edit] Architecture

In recent years, Roger Dean has focused a great deal on his architectural ideas. He has designed both homes and sustainable villages. As a designer, Dean has developed all aspects of his homes, from construction techniques to emotional comfort and security. The design of these homes is based on his Home For Life concept, a house that is artistically beautiful and environmentally kind, but cheap and quick to build.[4]

[edit] North East Art Rock Festival

Roger designed the ever-changing logo for the North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest, from 2001 to 2008, the festival's 10th anniversary. From 2003 to 2008, Roger collaborated with festival co-founder Chad Hutchinson on the concept and design of the logos. Roger's logos were incorporated on to event programs, t-shirts, pint glasses and other festival merchandise. In each of his years of involvement, Roger was invited as the festival's special guest where he welcomed the chance to meet many of his fans in person and signed thousands of autographs on his work. In 2008, Roger gave a slideshow preview of his newest book, "Dragon's Dream", and was also presented with a crystal award from NEARfest for his years of participation with the festival and in appreciation of his incredible body of work and its importance to progressive rock music.

Roger's logo designs for NEARfest can be found in a dedicated chapter in "Dragon's Dream" and on the NEARfest website.

[edit] Album covers

Some of the following links are to images.

[edit] Osibisa

[edit] Atomic Rooster

[edit] Yes

[edit] Budgie

[edit] Uriah Heep

[edit] Gentle Giant

[edit] Greenslade

[edit] Steve Howe

[edit] Asia

[edit] Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

[edit] Rick Wakeman

[edit] The London Symphony Orchestra

  • 1997 Symphonic Rock: American Classics
  • 1997 Symphonic Rock: The British Invasion, Vol. 1
  • 1998 Symphonic Rock: The British Invasion, Vol. 2

[edit] The London Philharmonic Orchestra

[edit] Various other artists

[edit] Videogame covers

[edit] Publications

  • The Flights of Icarus (ISBN 0-905895-16-9 editor, contributor). Large format colour book with numerous paintings by Dean, Martyn Dean and others. Edited by Donald Lehmkuhl, Martyn Dean and Roger Dean.
  • Views (1975) (ISBN-13 978-0061717093) This is a large-format colour book with full page and double page images of Roger Deans works, both architectural and artistic. The text was written by Dominy Hamilton and Carla Capalbo in association with Roger Dean. The architectural section was written by Donald Lehmkuhl.
  • Magnetic Storm (1984) (ISBN-13 978-0061717109) First published in 1984, Magnetic Storm followed in the groundbreaking footsteps of the million-selling Views (1975). Once again employing a large format and lavish production to showcase the unique art and design of Roger Dean, this iconic book was a retrospective of the astonishing breadth of work accomplished since the publication of its predecessor. Through Views and Magnetic Storm, Roger Dean established a devoted readership, while Dragon's Dream (2008) demonstrates how his visionary work has continued to illuminate an age of digital animation, computer games, and virtual worlds. Embracing designs for record sleeves, rock stages, movie projects, architecture, games consoles, landscapes, and books, Magnetic Storm features everything from innovative aircraft livery to the Yes logo. This new edition streamlines the original format and retains the combination of concept sketches and the finished works. Featuring revised design and typography, a new foreword, and a newly finished painting that Roger supplied especially for the front cover of this edition, Magnetic Storm showcases and celebrates the art that defined an era.
  • Dragon's Dream (2008) (ISBN-13 978-0061626975) Dragon's Dream makes up the Roger Dean trilogy. A more ambitious work than its predecessors, it celebrates Roger's work from the last twenty years. This encompasses a panoramic dreamscape of original paintings; album covers, logos, and stage designs for bands including living legends Yes as they celebrate their 40th anniversary; virtual worlds, characters, and logos for computer games companies such as Psygnosis, Bullet-Proof Software, and Tetris; and concepts and designs for both opera and animated movies. Finally, there is a review of Roger's lifelong and prophetic passion for eco-friendly architecture, featuring the visionary prototypes with which he has addressed the topical issue of sustainable living in the twenty-first century. The first published collection of Roger Dean's work in more than twenty years, Dragon's Dream celebrates the enduring vision of one of the most significant artists of our time.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Roger Dean (1975). Views. Reissue: Pomegranate (1993): ISBN 1-56640-448-7
  2. ^ a b Roger Dean (1984). Magnetic Storm. Reissue: Pomegranate (1993): ISBN 1-56640-449-5.
  3. ^ Roger Dean's profile at MobyGames
  4. ^ Home for Life designs at the official Roger Dean website

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Dean_(artist)"