In Search Of Forever by Rodney Mathews with text by Nigel Suckling

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In Search Of Forever by Rodney Mathews with text by Nigel Suckling

Pub: Paper Tiger. 142 page coffee-table size softcover. Price: £14.99 (UK), $21.95 (US) and $31.95 (CAN). ISBN: 1-85028-003-7.

Check out website: www.papertiger.co.uk

S'trewth! An artist from my native Somerset, depending on which day of the week Bristol is in my county when artist Rodney Mathews did much of the work in this book. It's also the only one of his books currently available from Paper Tiger at present with a promise for one of the others to be reprinted in the near future.

In search of forever This book is actually a good place to start if you want to look over Mathews' work as it displays material from books to posters to record sleeves. There are also a lot of sketches showing how some of his pieces of work were developed.

If you were around in the 70s and 80s, you couldn't help but see a lot of his work around in all the above media. If you're younger than that, you should be in for a delightful treat. Saying that, if you're a Moorcock or fantasy fan, then you're just as likely to have some of his work in your collection without necessarily realising it. Even in SF fan like myself can appreciate the quality of the design-work here.

Rodney Mathews art is more dependent on coloured inks and gouache than the artists we see today using oils or acrylics. In some respects, they often look like painted illustrations than the photogenic material that seems to be mostly bought by publishers today. If anything, this gives a sharp contrast in techniques.

Mathews' work has an almost ethereal glow of fragility about it whether it is with exotic landscapes or peculiar shaped creatures. With the slightly larger than usual artbook size, you'll see much of his work as it was intended to be seen with very few being lost into the centrefold.

This isn't the kind of book that turns up on High Street bookshelves any more mainly cos of the non-standard size. To tell the truth, I think I'd have problems putting it on one of my shelves come to that. It's the kind of book that you want to leave on a table and let your guests wander through when you want a break from idle chat.

It's also the kind of book that will then turn up in their own homes, so make sure you keep your own copy.

GF Willmetts

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