Saturday 2 October 2010

Swords Against the Outer Dark interviews Andrea Bonazzi

There's something about this chap that seems starkly familiar...
but I can't quite put my finger on it...

I dig Andrea Bonazzi's work. Those of you who've read my old Cimmerian entries might remember "The Letter of Glen Schuyler Hoffman," a fun little Weird Tales jaunt that recasts Lovecraft, Howard and Smith as paranormal investigators.  This was directly inspired by Bonazzi's photographs, where he digitally juxtaposes photographs of famous authors alongside sculptures inspired by their stories: most notably, the Weird Tales Troika.  Not just the Weird Musketeers: Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Edgar Allan Poe and even Tolkien receive the Bonazzi treatment.  You could make a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from them!  Well, Swords Against the Outer Dark has an interview up with the very clever chap.

I simply can't overstate how phenomenally cool his work is.  Lovecraft beside an unearthed Elder Thing tablet, Smith next to a blasphemous idol, Howard beside an uncanny statue! There's even a picture of the Weird Musketeers together, which ignited ideas of an alternate universe where they leave fiction aside to become Cthulhubusters, defending the earth from the machinations of the Black Ring, the Church of Starry Wisdom and the Brothers of the Yellow Sign.  They travel the world, sometimes teaming up with the Inklings, their British compatriots.  Sometimes they go off-world, to Almuric, Cykranosh, Yag, Yekub, Yuggoth and beyond, or to other dimensions of space and time - the Dreamlands, Zothique, the Outer Dark.

Plus the man made a Cthulhu pipe.  A Cthulhu pipe.

Ce n'est pas une pipe.
C'est glorieuse.

I must possess one.

Now, if only he could do some stuff with C.L. Moore, A. Merrit and Arthur Conan Doyle...

5 comments:

  1. Al,

    I am glad you liked the interview. Andrea's work is beyond cool, and I can't rave enough about it. I am just doing my part to help spread the word about this overlooked artist.

    Talk to you soon,

    Shane

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  2. My friend Andrea is a great talent.
    I have one of his carved pipe and a wonderful sculpture that seems inspired by Dragon's domain, from the Space 1999 serial...
    A truly genius.
    Taeter dixit

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  3. I'm very glad to see his work get more exposure, Shane & Taeter. Even without considering his awesome photoshops, the actual sculpting and draughtsmanship is very impressive. He's a guy who deserves to go far.

    (I just realised I didn't post a link to his page: must rectify that)

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  4. Possess one before it possesses you,indeed?
    (had to be said)

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  5. Oh ho ho, you devilish cad!

    (My beard is jealous.)

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