GEEK ESSENTIAL: HARDWARE: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss

© Chris Foss courtesy ChrisFossArt.com

I’ve spent hours looking at this book.

Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss from Titan Publishing is an amazing compendium of an artist I never knew before by name, but now will never forget.

Not only is the work stunning, but there’s not only insightful commentary from his daughter, Imogene Foss and my favorite graphic designer, Rian Hughes, but also forewords by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius.

Not too shabby.

The artwork within is amazing, showing off dozens of paintings of book covers and a number of film designs for Alien, A.I., Flash Gordon and more.

For any fan of art, science fiction or film, this book belongs in your home library.

After the jump, read the official synopsis and check out a couple of images from the book.

SYNOPSIS
Foss’s groundbreaking and distinctive science fiction art revolutionized paperback covers in the 1970s and 80s. Dramatically raising the bar for realism and invention, his trademark battle-weary spacecraft, dramatic alien landscapes and crumbling brutalist architecture irrevocably changed the aesthetic of science fiction art and cinema. Featuring work for books by Isaac Asimov, E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith, Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. Van Vogt and Philip K. Dick, and film design for Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick, this volume brings together many rare and classic images that have never been seen or reprinted before, making it the first comprehensive retrospective of Chris Foss’s SF career. 

© Chris Foss courtesy ChrisFossArt.com

© Chris Foss courtesy ChrisFossArt.com