Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz: The Glue Sniffer

England, 1986. On a trip through the south of England I took a walk in the harbor area of Plymouth where I saw this painting in a shop window or so I thought.

It turned out that it was not a shop after all but a former shop that had been turned into a artists studio. The artist working there was Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz who made it very clear that he was not a shopkeeper and hated being mistaken for one. After I apologised for intruding we had little chat nevertheless which left me deeply impressed by both the man and his work.

By accident, after more than 20 years, I found the painting on Google Images (I love the net) and I still recall the deep impression it had on me when I first saw it because it proved that 'traditional' painting is as important as it ever was. Before seeing this painting I had always thought that realistic painting was a thing of the past, boring and rendered useless by the invention of photography. 'The Glue Sniffer' changed that once and for all.

I had always hoped to return and meet him again one day but it was not to be. Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz died on the 6th of August, 2002.

The man is gone but, as they say, his legacy remains.

© Image Copyright Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz.

The masters series: Joe Petagno (Pt. 2)

Another Perfect Day (pictured left) is another fine example for the intensity and skill of Joe Petagnos oeuvre yet it also sets itself apart from the typical heavy metal imagery by somewhat abstracting the familiar Snaggletooth theme.

Interesting is also that both the Motörhead headline and the album title are part of the artwork itself rather than being added later.

This image had a lasting influence on my own way of seeing things and taught me to always try and observe things from different angles.

Some people may call this commercial illustration, I call it a masterpiece.

I love the album, too, but I seem to be contrary to popular opinion on this one.

© Image copyright Joe Petagno.

The masters series: Joe Petagno

Heavy Metal art has been featured under sources of inspiration in this blog more than once because it did inspire me more than anything, definetely more than the socalled "high culture" which has remained alien to me (mostly) to this day.

Joe Petagno has his unmistakable style and the images he created for Motörhead are imprinted on the collective consciousness of a whole generation.

What makes the difference is the display of pure energy that is missing from a lot of socalled radical art these days.

See www.petagno.dk for more information.

© Image copyright Joe Petagno

Wizards (Ralph Bakshi Part One)

The Ralph Bakshi Film Wizards released in 1977 had probably the deepest influence on my graphic style because it mixes various different styles by somehow layering various images on top of each other.
Remember, this was back in the pre-computer age and the images in the movie were done by hand.
More information on Wizards can be found at www.ralphbakshi.com.

Watch the movie if you can, it's pretty hard to obtain in Europe, hopefully there will be a DVD re-release one day.

© Image copyright 2007 Bakshi Productions

Another master

An artist that had a huge influence on me during those teenage years is Derek Riggs, especially the work he did for Iron Maiden. Shocking and extreme, yet skilled and thoughtful, it opened a whole new perspective and that's what I need art to do for me. Check out www.derekriggs.com which is finally up again.

"The number of the beast"
© 1982 Derek Riggs

A master

Since this blog is meant to give some clues about my influences and sources of inspiration Winston Smith can never be excluded from a list like this because he was (and is) simply cool, both in terms of graphic style and attitude.

See www.winstonsmith.com for details.

"Idol (In God We Trust, Inc.)"
© Winston Smith 1978-1981