Description
The Basil Gogos Monster Art Book (Softcover) by Linda Touby
This is an exquisite, super deluxe softcover, full color collection of Basil Gogos’ wonderful monster sketches, illustrations and paintings! Over 200 lavish pages of rare art compiled and annotated by Basil’s long time life partner, Linda Touby.
This softcover book is like nothing you have ever seen before. We will show you the careful steps Basil took to prepare his famous paintings. The art comes from Basil’s private studio files and most images have not been seen before.
Each book will be carefully packaged and shipped in a specially designed book box to prevent any damage.
(Please note that this book weighs 3 pounds and the shipping is costly. We are actually charging LESS than it costs us to ship).
“This book is a loving tribute to al! of Basil’s fans.
They love the Monsters, this is for them,” -Linda Touby
Linda let us know from the beginning, “this book is for the fans.” As well as being Basil’s wife, Linda, is also an artist, they shared a studio, created, worked and traveled together. She generously provided full access to the studio, in New York City’s upper west side, and many insights to Basil’s life and his artistic process we have included here. Linda lovingly tells the story of when she first met Basil – she wasn’t yet aware of his work with Jim Warren. Basil was disillusioned with the industry and wasn’t doing monster work anymore. It wasn’t until she attended a convention appearance with him (one he had to be talked into) that she realized the effect Basil’s work had on generations of horror fans. “They loved his monster paintings and they loved Basil,” Linda told us. Helping Basil return to painting and drawing monsters, reconnecting him to his fans, and giving us many more years of his art, is something she should be credited with.
What this book is:
What we set out do initially, was to show the sketches, drawings and paintings that had not been seen before, or that may have not been yet collected. It became so much more. As we began to pour over the immense body of Basil’s work at the studio he shared with Linda, several things became apparent. The first was that there was a massive amount of art, and a process to its creation. As we learned, Basil seldom did anything half way when it came to his art. There were sketches, overlays on vellum and tracing paper, and incredible drawings done on paper napkins. “I am still finding these drawings he would do on a napkin, or a receipt, in his coat pockets.” Linda explains. Often, Basil worked and reworked the art, and more than a few paintings were discarded before he considered it up to his standards. “Basil would never paint the same thing twice, even when working on a commission of one of his classic Famous Monster covers. He would change some aspect of the painting to make it clear that he was not repeating himself.” Linda explained. He was an original who would not stop evolving, either In content or style. This added another layer of complexly to compiling a book of Basil’s work.
The second thing that became clear in putting together this book, was that Basil painted and drew certain monsters a lot. It is evident when you look through this book, which ones were his favorite.
