thumbnails john harris

Thumbnails: John Harris

Thumbnails: 30 Second Interviews

John Harris has been one of my personal favorites ever since I began

work at Tor. I love his work for many of the same reasons I love

Martiniere's -- they resonate a sense of awe and scope, a kind of "big

picture" science fiction. His futures seem simultaneously possible and

dream-like. The paintings are never labored, they invite the viewer to

participate in them, to contemplate the future and its repercussions

in their own mind. His art book, Mass, is a must have.

Favorite painting you did in the past year?

A Jack Vance cover for Bookspan and the cover for The Last Colony.

[Bottom image.]

Dream assignment?

Lost Worlds in space.

Do you remember the first time you knew you wanted to be an artist?

I remember when I was six or seven I had chickenpox. I was kept in bed

for an age and, getting bored, I started decorating the wall beside my

bed with a stubby pencil. I suddenly discovered the magic of marks and

how they could make worlds appear in my head. The wonder of it

survived my mother's wrath and remains with me to this day.

A career highlight?

In 1985 NASA invited me to watch a launch of the space shuttle and

paint a picture for their collection, and which now is part of the

Smithsonian collection. [Top image.]