Jim Burns: Imago
(2005 - Heavy Metal)

This slightly larger-than-usual book (9.5-by-13 inches), focuses on the female form as expressed in the work of Jim Burns. So let's start by mentioning that 30 paintings form the central base throughout the book, more than half of the 51 full-page presentations (there's also 27 more pages with multiple images on them). Most of these paintings are cropped-in to enlarge their female 'star'. Some of the original paintings were formulated as wraparound book covers and while these are all presented as double-page-spreads, the back cover portion is usually overlaid with a different large inserted art-piece. It's hard to really fault this apostasy, as other collections frequently present these same large works by featuring only the 'front cover' portions. I'll add here that most of the ten pieces actually intended to be enjoyed as double-page-spreads are not significantly distorted by the central gutter, but my position is always that this is rarely an enhancing presentation. Anyway, other than those paintings, the exhibits are drawings that run the gamut from sketchy studies to finished (sometimes colored) work. Unfortunately, more than a handful of those are just an earlier, or alternate, version of a figure found in a completed work elsewhere in the book. Many of the displays are accompanied by a comment by the artist and there's a two-page guide in to the paintings in the back, listing the title and what book or story it was commissioned for. On The List here, the collection LIGHTSHIP is recommended before this one and some of these paintings appeared there as well.