Three Dimensional Abstract

Usually abstract paintings are two dimensional shapes laid out on a flat surface. But you can also create abstract shapes in perspective, resulting in what I like to call a “three-dimensional abstract.”


Science fiction book covers are a perfect setting for such images, because it’s fun to contemplate strange forms whose function is a mystery.

This wraparound book cover, which I painted in oil, has just been released from IDW Press. It presents a starship interior going back into space. Like a child looking at the adult world, I don't know the purpose of each of the forms. I imagined that the forms were not so much designed by humans, as “grown” according to crystal-like rules.

Some forms have luminous panels, but overall, the scene is lit from a warm inside source behind us to the left, along with a cool sun out there in space, half-hidden by the window.

Read more about this deluxe edition of the novel by Harlan Ellison at IDW, the publisher's website.