Neptune 1990

Boris Vallejo’s ‘Neptune’, made in 1999, gives us a god of the sea, painted with oils in a super-realistic style, all glistening scales and rippling muscles. The colours here are mostly blues, greens, and browns, all blended together to create a sense of depth, of being underwater. The figure is incredibly smooth, every surface buffed and polished with seamless airbrushing and glazing. Look how Vallejo uses light and shadow to sculpt the form, especially around Neptune's arms and torso. It's almost like he's working in three dimensions, turning the painting into a kind of hyperreal sculpture. The whole thing reminds me a little of those old Frank Frazetta paintings, all heroic fantasy and exaggerated anatomy. Both artists embraced the possibilities of painting to create images that were larger than life, and that continues to inspire artists today. It’s a reminder that art isn't always about capturing reality, sometimes it's about creating something entirely new, something that exists only in the imagination.