Symptomatica Paperback – September 1, 2008

Freakin' heck! This guy is one of the best designers working in the world right now. This book show you what high quality design is... really is. It's so good it's almost heartbreaking.

I am a huge fan of Ragnar, and I loved his two previous art books CHROMAPHILS and VERNACULIS, so I was very excited for this book.However, when it arrived I found the book full of overly busy images and strange troll people. I was saddened to learn that this whole style of his was an excursion into the digital medium because he had become bored with his traditional techniques. His reflections on where he has come are sad, especially to someone who loves his stuff, as he describes many of his images as empty or without substance.If you are a fan of his bold,simple, and sexy pinups and posters of the previous two books, then you will be less impressed with this book. The book does have some of his classic pin-ups of House of Secrets and his Big City project, but that is where the familiarity ends.The second half of the book is the end of his artistic road in the digital medium, with strange, twisted people and busy filler backgrounds that leave one a little overwhelmed and just wanting a simple pattern or flat color. His style has aged and we can see it. The Women have more lines and less teeth, the backgrounds are more cluttered, and the power of his earlier images are lost among themselves.Do not misunderstand me in saying her has gotten bad in his art. He is an artist I greatly admire and respect and I am inspired by his work.In this book, Ragnar looks at himself and sees that is is time again to change mediums. It contains the images and reflections of realization that he is no longer making the images he wants to be making and is deciding to go elsewhere, and I will miss him for it.

プレビューの小さい画面で何作品か見るときれい目な絵に見えるのですが実際にはなんというか、グロテスク成分が多い画風なんですね。どれも人の顔がグロテスクで、なんだか残念。ちょっと期待していたのと違いました。