Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka : The Fiction of Harlan Ellison by Harlan Ellison Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka : The Fiction of Harlan Ellison
Book Review: Striking. An incredible artistic interpretation.
Summary: 5 Stars
Miniature landscapes on drab tabletops. A haunting epilogue to Icarus' fall. And a shelter so well hidden, even the creators can't find it. Literary and artistic surrealism are augmented by Ellison's lyrical flair, and Jacek Yerka's paintings can only be described as....Visceral.
Check this book out. Ellison fans can't afford to miss this, it ranges from sullen to acidly sarcastic, and it's all incredible.Book Review: Surreal paintings give rise to equally surreal stories.
Summary: 4 Stars
Harlan Ellison tackles a variety of projects. This time, he has discovered a series of surrational paintings by Jacek Yerka. This is a true collaboration, because the paintings themselves are stunning. Witness the oddly nostalgic image on the front cover of Volkswagen beetle half transformed into a lizard. Jacek's other images include several focusing on unusual houses, Escher-esque mixed perspective, and secret gardens. Jacek Yerka uses a crisp, clear style with superb definition. Far from suggesting inchoate images to his viewers, he descibes in exquisite detail his visions. Determining why his images simultaneously make intuitive sense, yet are not of this world, is a delightful challenge. With just a hint of humor, Ellison's short sketches are designed to convey the emotions he felt as he gazed at the paintings. Though he generally regards his work as self explanatory, he has included some of his legendary author's notes explaining a few of his more compact stories. The rest give firefly snapshots of his life as he worked on the project.
Ellison's natural length is longer than the paragraph-to-page length he has chosen here, but this remains a collection that supports both a light jaunt through its entries, or serious consideration of metaphor of a cupboard for the isolation of the WWII Jewish condition. Enjoy.
--Carl Woollen