Freyja's Castle (1987), showing Dean's characteristic landscapes, with organic-looking constructions.
For other persons named Roger Dean, see Roger Dean. Roger Dean (born August 31, 1944, is an English artist, designer, architect and publisher. He is best known for his work on album covers for musicians which he began painting in the late 1960s. The covers usually feature exotic, fantastic landscapes.
Life and work
Pathways (1973), from an album cover which depicts a scene with one of Dean's famous floating islands touched down on water.
Dean was born in Ashford, Kent but he spent most of his childhood moving around the world with his British Army father. The family returned to England in 1959 where he was educated at The Norton Knatchbull School. He later earned a National Diploma of Design from the Canterbury School of Art. In 1968, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. He has lived in Brighton since 1972.
Invention vs design
Beginning in the field of design, he preferred to distinguish between design (the reworking of existing models), and invention (making something new). One of his inventions was the "sea urchin chair." It was a foam chair, which, though appearing spherical, would conform to the sitter, who could obtain a seated position of varying angles. Later, he was asked to design a "landscape" of similar seating for a club belonging to Ronnie Scott. [1]. His "retreat pod" chair design was featured in the film A Clockwork Orange.
Album covers
His first album cover work was in 1968 for a group called Gun. In 1971, Dean produced the cover for the first album by the African/Caribbean band Osibisa which attracted widespread attention to his work. Later that year, he began the partnership with the progressive rock band Yes for which he is best known. His first design for the band was for their album Fragile. Dean designed the now-classic Yes "bubble" logo, which first appeared on the album Close to the Edge, and continued to create covers for the band until as recently as 1999 (The Ladder). Yes guitarist Steve Howe said, "There is a pretty tight bond between our sound and Roger's art." In addition to their album covers, Dean also contributed to his brother Martyn Dean's stage set designs for the band.[2]
Known primarily for the dreamy, other-worldly scenes he has created for Yes, Budgie, Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant and other bands, Dean has said, "I don't really think of myself as a fantasy artist but as a landscape painter." Characteristic landscapes show graceful stone arches (as shown in Arches Mist, above) or floating islands, while many paintings show organic appearing habitats (such as shown in the cover for Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe). Though he primarily works with watercolour paints, many of his paintings make use of multiple media, including gouache, ink, enamel, crayon and collage. In addition to his cover paintings, Dean is respected for his calligraphic work, designing logos and titles to go with his paintings.
Arches Mist, 1996. Another characteristic image, a moody landscape, showing fantastic natural features.
Video game art
Beginning in 1985 with the software company Psygnosis, Dean has been responsible for the cover artwork for several video games, including Tetris Worlds as well as a redesign of the Tetris logo.[3]
Publishing
Two compilations of his work, Views (1975)[1] (the success of which led him to form publishing house Paper Tiger Books) and Magnetic Storm (1984)[2], have been published. In addition, his architectural and furniture work have been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the Royal Academy.
Film project
In early 2005, Dean announced plans to create a feature film titled Floating Islands. This film will be produced by Roger Dean and David Mousley. The story is based on the underlying theme depicted in the album artwork for Yes. It will feature animated 3D renderings of classic Dean images and music by Yes.
Architecture
In recent years, Roger Dean has focused a great deal on his architectural ideas. He has designed both homes and sustainable villages. As a designer, Dean has developed all aspects of his homes, from construction techniques to emotional comfort and security. The design of these homes is based on his Home For Life concept, a house that is artistically beautiful and environmentally kind, but cheap and quick to build.[4]
North East Art Rock Festival
Roger travels every summer to the North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest, as the invited guest, and has designed the festival logo every year since 2001. He welcomes the chance to meet many of his fans in person and has signed thousands of autographs of his work.
Album covers
Some of the following links are to images.
The London Symphony Orchestra
- 1997 Symphonic Rock: American Classics
- 1997 Symphonic Rock: The British Invasion, Vol. 1
- 1998 Symphonic Rock: The British Invasion, Vol. 2
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
- 1995 The London Philharmonic Orchestra Plays The Music of Pink Floyd
Miscellaneous
- 1968 Gun, The Gun
- 1969 Earth & Fire, Earth & Fire
- 1970 Elastic Rock, Nucleus
- 1970 One Fine Morning, Lighthouse
- 1970 Heavy Petting, Dr. Strangely Strange
- 1971 Dedicated to You But You Weren-t Listening, Keith Tippett Group
- 1971 Space Hymns, Ramases
- 1971 Nitro Function, Billy Cox
- 1972 Octopus, Gentle Giant
- 1972 First Base, Babe Ruth
- 1973 Spring Suite, McKendree Spring
- 1973 One Live Badger, Badger
- 1973 SNAFU, Snafu
- 1974 Staircase to the Day, Gravy Train
- 1976 Cactus Choir, Dave Greenslade
- 1977 Natural Avenue, John Lodge
- 1983 Breaking Starcodes, Barry Devlin
- 1989 Eat Me in St. Louis, It Bites
- 1993 Symphonic Music of Yes
- 1995 Tales from Yesterday, multi-artist Yes tribute
- 1995 Us and Them: Symphonic Pink Floyd
- 1996 Supernatural Fairy Tales: The Progressive Rock Era
- 1997 The Moray Eels Eat The Space Needle, Space Needle
- 1998 Yes, Friends and Relatives
- 1998 Ad Infinitum, Ad Infinitum
- 2000 Yes, Friends and Relatives Volume 2
- 2002 Flattening Mountains and Creating Empires, Vermilion
- 2003 The Iridium Controversy, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
- 2005 The Inconsolable Secret, Glass Hammer
- 2006 White, White
Videogame covers
- 1986 Brataccas, Mindscape Inc./Psygnosis
- 1987 Barbarian, Psygnosis
- 1987 Terrorpods, Psygnosis
- 1988 Baal, Psygnosis
- 1988 Chrono Quest, Psygnosis
- 1988 Obliterator, Psygnosis
- 1989 Shadow of the Beast, Psygnosis/Reflections
- 1989 Stryx, Psyclapse
- 1990 Infestation, Psygnosis
- 1990 Shadow of the Beast II, Psygnosis/Reflections
- 1991 Amnios, Psygnosis
- 1991 Ork, Psygnosis
- 1992 Agony, Psygnosis
- 1992 Faceball 2000, Bullet-Proof Software
- 2001 Tetris Worlds, THQ
- 2007 Tetris Splash, Tetris Online, Inc. (title screens)
Publications
- The Flights of Icarus (ISBN 0-905895-16-9 editor, contributor). Large format colour book with numerous paintings by Dean, Martyn Dean and others. Edited by Donald Lehmkuhl, Martyn Dean and Roger Dean.
- Views (ISBN 1-56640-448-7) This is a large-format colour book with full page and double page images of Roger Deans works, both architectural and artistic. The text was written by Dominy Hamilton and Carla Capalbo in association with Roger Dean. The architectural section was written by Donald Lehmkuhl.
References
External links
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