70sscifiart:

Legendary sci-fi artist John Harris gave an interview for his upcoming art collection, The Art of John Harris: Beyond the Horizon:

Q: What are the three biggest changes that you’ve seen in the genre of science fiction art over the course of your career?

A: It seems to me that there have been quite distinct phases in the evolution of the sci-fi art during my lifetime. When I was a kid, the genre was dominated by the work of comic strip artists like Frank Bellamy, and those who painted the covers for Astounding periodicals.

Artists like Jim Burns and Sid Mead took that futuristic look to a whole new level in the mid seventies. I came in around that time, having been fed on Chesley Bonestall, who captured the spirit of exploration and a sense of wonder, that had a huge effect on me. And Chris Foss, an engineer by training, gave a realist twist to the technology. By this time, of course, NASA had flooded the world with the imagery of actual space travel.

Another game changer was H.R. Giger, who gave the genre an altogether darker tone, with his work on Alien, a direction that has rather dominated the genre for quite some time, aided and abetted by the digital revolution which has made it easier to produce very convincing realities, however bizarre (the explosion of knowledge of genetics has vastly added to our sense of possible futures).

My personal feelings on all of this is that, as artists, we merely reflect the dominant zeitgeist, possibly brought about by real scientific development.

Read the full interview | Buy the book