Mass: The Art Of John Harris

by John Harris, Ron Tiner

John Harris’s grand vision and style have won international acclaim—and a NASA commission, never before given to a British artist. Yet, this is the first collection of his paintings in print. The work is truly colossal, featuring the innovative, ultramodern structures that brought him fame and conveying the sheer size that edifices built by future-fantastic technology might attain, and the awesomeness, even the terror, of their presence.

Genres: Art

112 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

John Harris is a British artist and illustrator, known for working in the science fiction genre. His paintings have been used on book covers for many authors, including Orson Scott Card, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Ben Bova, Wilbur Smith, Jack Vance, Ann Leckie, and John Scalzi. His work has covered many genres and although he made his name in the science-fiction genres, he is now exploring a new realm, the imaginative realism of aerial landscapes

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever there were a case of that classic phrase - "its a trap!!!" me searching through my book cases would be high on that list. Yes I went looking for a book (which by the way I have not yet found so stand by for me apologies to come) and found myself distracted by one of my Papertiger books. This time the early (up to 2000) works of John Harris. I will not go in to the details as they are covered off below however I will admit that I still love flicking through this book as not only does it remind me of some of my favorite book covers but there is something immense and epic in scale to his work and it never ceases to amaze me. Oh well I guess the next question is do I dare go back looking for that book again....?

Where to start with this review - I have started it 3 times now and had to restart it all over again.
The book is a series of pieces which have been used numerous times (so many times in fact that the author admits he is not sure of every instance in fact) but all to great effect. However it wont take you many pages to start recognising his work from the various covers of his books. In fact that is part of the appeal in that many of the pieces you thought originated for a specific book are actually much older and were created for something entirely different. If anything it is a true demonstration of how powerful his work is and how timeless it is.
Mass has the ability to create the feeling of epic vistas. He plays on perspectives so that images can cover huge views yet give an intimacy that no earthly scene could convey - which all adds to the wonder of the scene. But rather than making you feel that it is all wrong you feel that it is as it should be an

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broad overview of John Harris' work up to 2000. He has painted many famous science fiction covers and herein we learn that he is often telling his own stories that jibe with or evoke a mood from an author's piece and are therefore later matched up by a publisher. It was also interesting to see very familiar paperback covers such as that of Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead but be told they were originally for a Frederick Pohl novel or some equally famous precursor to Card.
I would have liked a bit more description of the shellac process and why it took so long to move to acrylics and oils, aside from a rush through of this information in the final paragraph. But maybe that is just indicative of how thorough the author was, in that I have nothing more to complain about except that he piqued my interest too sharply.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite SF artists. Harris does a lot of book cover illustration, and if you've seen any of the covers for Orson Scott Card's Ender series, ya know him. His approach leans towards abstraction, his color sense is phenomenal, and while presenting the details, he leaves just enough to the imagination. Great pictorial of his career, often with full/double page spreads. Text very well written as well.