Gulliver of Mars Paperback Novel Cover 1964

This cover for Gulliver of Mars, painted by Frank Frazetta, is a headlong rush of bright, almost lurid, oranges, set off against deep blues, blacks, and grays. Looking at it now, I can almost feel Frazetta’s hand as he’s building up the creatures, stroke by stroke, letting the drama emerge through the action of the brush. I really get a sense of Frazetta as an artist who’s totally fearless, letting his imagination run wild. I wonder if he ever felt trapped by having to make the image work for the book cover, but somehow I doubt it. I think that in his mind, painting was more about the doing than the having done. I really love how Frazetta’s been able to create so much depth, while keeping everything so flat. It reminds me of Tintoretto, whose use of wild perspective creates this exciting push and pull between real space and image space. It makes you think about all the generations of artists who are in conversation with each other, riffing off each other’s work. I think that's how art grows and changes.