Review: 'Spectrum 21 - The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art'

Cover art by Rebecca Léveillé-Guay

Another year, another stunning volume of the Spectrum contemporary fantastic art book series.

Volume 21 sees the series under new stewardship as the torch is passed from Arnie and Cathy Fenner, who first imagined this series of books back in 2003, and over to John Flesk of Flesk Publishing. A recognisable name in the quality artbook business, who has printed artbooks featuring Brom, Mark Schultz, Frank Cho and more.

With the change of management, there is no change in the quality of book or of the artwork on the pages. There is still the review of the year, the career summary of this year's Grand Master, and the Gold and Silver winners from each of the categories the book is split into - Advertising, Books, Comics, Concept Art, Dimensional, Editorial, Institutional, and Unpublished featuring over 500 artworks in different styles and mediums from more than 250 artists on over 300 pages! 

Since last year's edition, I'm beginning to recognise a lot more of the artists that are featured in this artbook, as I now follow a lot of them on the usual social networks and their blogs. The artist index at the back of the book contains the websites of all the artists featured in the book.

New editorial team, but the same high standard of quality art. If you love contemporary art with a good dose of the fantastic, science fiction and horror, I can totally recommended this hefty tome!

*****/5