ROGER DEAN
Roger Dean (born 31
August 1944) is an English artist, designer, architect, and publisher. He is
best known for his work on posters and album
covers for musicians, which he began painting in the late 1960s. The covers
often feature exotic, fantasy landscapes. His work has sold more than sixty million
copies world-wide.
Life and work
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 Ashford Grammer School.
He later earned a National Diploma of Design from the Canterbury College of Art. In
1968, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London where he was a
student of Professor David Pye. His Masters thesis was on, 'The psychology of
the built environment'. He has lived in East Sussex
since 1972.
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.
Album covers
His first album
cover work was in 1968 for The
Gun. He also did the artwork for Atomic
Rooster's album In Hearing of... This album cover
hinted at the inimitable style for which he would later become famous. In the
same year Dean produced the cover for the first album by the African/Caribbean
band Osibisa,
which featured a hybrid insect/elephant. This was much closer to Dean's work as
we came to know it and it attracted widespread attention. Later that year, he
began the partnership with the progressive
rock bands Yes (and Asia)
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 2011 (Fly
From Here). 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.
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]
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), Magnetic Storm (1984),[2]
and Dragon's Dream (2008). In addition, his architectural
and furniture work have been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the Royal
Academy.
Album and videogame covers
Arches Mist, 1996. Another
characteristic image, a moody landscape, showing fantastic natural features.
Album covers
Year
|
Artist
|
Album
|
1968
|
Gun
|
|
1969
|
Earth and Fire
|
|
1970
|
||
1970
|
One Fine Morning
|
|
1970
|
Heavy Petting
|
|
1970
|
Clear Blue Sky
|
Clear Blue Sky
|
1971
|
Midnight Sun
|
Midnight Sun
|
1971
|
||
1971
|
Dedicated to You but You Weren’t
Listening
|
|
1971
|
Space Hymns
|
|
1971
|
Mike Absalom[4]
|
|
1971
|
||
1971
|
||
1971
|
Into Your Ears
|
|
1971
|
||
1971
|
||
1972
|
Blue
|
|
1972
|
Gracious!
|
This Is...Gracious!!
|
1972
|
||
1972
|
||
1972
|
||
1972
|
||
1972
|
||
1972
|
Midnight Sun
|
Walking Circles
|
1972
|
||
1972
|
||
1972
|
Paladin
|
Charge!
|
1972
|
Various
|
|
1973
|
Greenslade
|
Greenslade
|
1973
|
Magna Carta
|
Lord of the Ages
|
1973
|
Yes
|
Yessongs
|
1973
|
||
1973
|
||
1973
|
Spring Suite
|
|
1973
|
Del Richardson
|
Pieces Of A Jigsaw
|
1973
|
One Live Badger
|
|
1973
|
||
1973
|
||
1974
|
Staircase to the Day
|
|
1974
|
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1974
|
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1975
|
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1976
|
Cactus Choir
|
|
1977
|
Natural Avenue
|
|
1979
|
||
1980
|
||
1980
|
||
1981
|
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1982
|
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1983
|
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1983
|
Breaking Starcodes
|
|
1984
|
My Kingdom Come
|
|
1985
|
||
1989
|
Eat Me in St. Louis
|
|
1989
|
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1990
|
||
1991
|
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1991
|
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1991
|
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1992
|
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1993
|
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1993
|
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1993
|
Rick Wakeman’s Greatest Hits
|
|
1994
|
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1994
|
||
1995
|
||
1995
|
Various artists
|
Tales from Yesterday
|
1996
|
Various artists
|
|
1996
|
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1996
|
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1997
|
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1997
|
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1997
|
||
1997
|
||
1997
|
Symphonic Rock: American Classics
|
|
1997
|
Symphonic Rock: The British
Invasion, Vol. 1
|
|
1998
|
Symphonic Rock: The British
Invasion, Vol. 2
|
|
1998
|
Ad Infinitum
|
Ad Infinitum
|
1998
|
Various artists
|
|
1998
|
Keys to Ascension Volumes 1 and 2
|
|
1999
|
||
1999
|
||
2000
|
Various artists
|
Yes, Friends and Relatives Volume
2
|
2000
|
||
2001
|
||
2001
|
||
2001
|
Remasters: The Official Anthology
|
|
2001
|
Resurrection
|
|
2001
|
||
2002
|
||
2002
|
Vermilion
|
Flattening Mountains and Creating
Empires
|
2003
|
The Iridium Controversy
|
|
2003
|
||
2004
|
||
2005
|
The Inconsolable Secret
|
|
2005
|
||
2006
|
White
|
|
2008
|
||
2010
|
||
2010
|
Various artist
|
Wondrous Stories – A Complete
Introduction To Progressive Rock
|
2010
|
Various artist
|
Wondrous Stories – 34 Artist That
Shaped The Prog Rock Era
|
2011
|
||
2011
|
Ben Craven
|
Great & Terrible Potions
|
2011
|
||
2012
|
Video game covers
- 1986 Brataccas, Mindscape Inc./Psygnosis
- 1987 Barbarian, Psygnosis
- 1987 Terrorpods, Psygnosis
- 1988 Chrono Quest, Psygnosis
- 1988 Obliterator, Psygnosis
- 1989 Shadow of the Beast, Psygnosis/Reflections
- 1989 Stryx, Psyclapse
- 1990 Infestation, Psygnosis
- 1990 Shadow of the Beast II, Psygnosis/Reflections
- 1991 Amnios, Psygnosis
- 1992 Agony, Psygnosis
- 1992 Faceball 2000, Bullet-Proof Software
- 2001 Tetris Worlds, THQ
- 2007 Tetris Splash, Tetris Online, Inc. (title screens)
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 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 978-0061717109) First published in 1984, Magnetic Storm followed in the groundbreaking footsteps of the million-selling Views. 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. 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)Dragon's Dream makes up the Roger Dean trilogy. Through Views and Magnetic Storm, Roger Dean established a devoted readership, while Dragon's Dream demonstrates how his visionary work has continued to illuminate an age of digital animation, computer games, and virtual worlds. 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.
References
1.
Roger Dean (1975). Views. Reissue: Pomegranate
(1993): ISBN
1-56640-448-7
2.
Roger Dean (1984). Magnetic Storm. Reissue:
Pomegranate (1993): ISBN
1-56640-449-5.
3.
Roger
Dean's profile at MobyGames. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
4.
"Mike
Absalom Music Shop". Mikeabsalom.com. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
External links
- Roger Dean's personal web site
- Information about the Floating Islands film project
- BBCi Music Interview, 2002
source:wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Dean_(artist)
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