The Art of Venjean

As we were checking out the Balticon Art Show late last month, we came across a panel of paintings that were striking for the strangeness of their artist's vision, the classically inspired techniques, and how polished even the smallest pieces looked. I quite liked their surreal nature, though it was very clearly not to the taste of most of the art show visitors, and so I came back a second time, admired them some more, and bought one of the pieces.

In the hallway outside, at one of the vendor tables, I spotted the artist sitting with a few other folks who proved to be members of his family. They were selling copies of a book of his art. I bought one.

The artist is Daniel Venjean. You can check out his work here.

A bit later, his son, Nicolas, contacted me. Apparently, they had also checked me out online. He extended an invitation, which I accepted. As it turns out, Venjean is working on a second, larger, updated edition of his book. It should appear this year, though possibly quite late in the year.

I will be writing an introduction for this new edition.

I've never attempted an art book intro before, and I certainly have no formal training in the area, nor any claims to any relevant expertise. Still, I appreciate their invitation, and I look forward to creating a bit of prose to go along with Daniel Venjean's surreal paintings.