Roger Dean is an internationally recognised artist and designer, whose evocative and visionary images with associated graphics, logos, and lettering, created a new genre of work.
Made popular through the media of album covers and posters his work has sold in excess of sixty million copies world-wide.
Roger has set up and successfully run his own publishing company called Dragons Dream. Under this imprint his books Views and Magnetic Storm were published. Views went straight to number one in the best seller lists going on to sell well over a million copies.
Even if you don’t number among Roger Dean’s many worldwide devotees, if you’re of a certain age you’re likely to find his work eerily familiar. And with good reason – his unique vision was responsible for some of the most iconic imagery of the 1970s and 80s, and its popularity has gone on to span more than four decades. The inclusiveness of his work means that it is just as likely to be found blu-tacked to the wall of a suburban bedsitting room as it is hanging in an international art gallery.
Along with artists like Storm Thorgerson (Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon) Roger is credited with transforming the status of the album cover for all time, elevating it from mere packaging to a work of art in its own right. His designs for legendary prog-rock band Yes (at the time the most successful band in the world) gained him massive exposure; his covers for hit albums such as Tales from Topographic Oceans, Close to the Edge, Yessongs and Fragile won admiration from millions of fans globally. Roger’s artwork and trademark calligraphy became synonymous with the identity of the band and when, along with his brother Martyn, he was invited to conceive the stage set for the Yes USA tour it was seen as a natural progression.
Although perhaps best known for his paintings, Roger is also an accomplished designer and publisher. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, he won early acclaim for his Sea Urchin Chair, which was famously ‘borrowed’ by Lord Snowden for exhibition at the British Trade Fair in Brussels. The prototype for Sea Urchin Chair was also shown at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Design Centre, and was later acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum for their permanent exhibition. Roger was also commissioned to design the seating for the legendary Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.
Roger has a passionate interest in building design. The full-size prototype of his ‘curvilinear house’ - an organically inspired space for alternative living – made a dramatic impact at the Birmingham International Ideal Home Exhibition, where it became the focal point of the event with nearly 200,000 people passing through its doors. The house was also shown at the Tomorrow's World exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre, and later visited the Glastonbury Music Festival (where it was the only habitable space free of mud!).
Published through his own Dragons Dream imprint, Roger’s first book, Views, went straight to number one in The Times best seller list, stayed there for eleven weeks and went on to sell over a million copies. He later produced a second book of his work, the highly acclaimed Magnetic Storm, in collaboration with his brother, Martyn. Roger is also involved in the design and production of computer games.
Irrepressibly productive, Roger continues to work and exhibit, both collaboratively and in his own right. He is currently occupied with several major architectural design projects, including Willowater and Home for Life.
I first became aware of Roger's art back in the '70's when I saw a "Yes" album cover in a record shop. From that moment I was a fan. Even though I do not paint/illustrate in the same style as he I do find his work fascinating and expertly crafted. I find it interesting that Dean didn't just stick to his paints but ventured out into arichteture, movie and stage design. If you have seen the movie "Avatar" you have seen Roger's artwork. Unfortunatly Roger Dean didn't get a penny of the multi-Billion dollars the movie made!
Home for Life
http://www.rogerdean.com/architecture/home-for-life/home-for-life-gallery.html
ROGER DEAN has designed a house for the new millennium: artistically beautiful, environmentally kind, but cheap and quick to build. It began as a college project to design a child's bed and grew into a radically new form of architecture for a world awakening to the damage done by post-war housing and office development.
Dean's paintings and album covers are known around the globe, and his futuristic style has been much imitated. The mythical beasts and dazzling clarity of light and colour are his trademark, but at the heart of much of his work are the wondrous buildings that mushroom into his cobalt skies. Fantastic as they may look, these are architectural drawings of structures that can be built.
Chronology
Roger Dean was born in Ashford, Kent, England, on the 31st of August 1944, at 8.30pm.
Before her marriage, his mother studied fashion design at Canterbury School of Art. His father was an engineer in the British army where he took the option of going abroad. As a result, most of Roger's childhood was spent away from England - in Greece, Cyprus and Hong Kong. The family returned to Britain in 1959, when Roger went to Ashford Grammar School.
He has a brother, Martyn, and two sisters, Penny and Phillipa.
1961
• Began a three year course in Industrial Design at Canterbury School of Art, leading to a National Diploma of Design, studying both silver-smithing and furniture design.
1964
• Made the first designs for the Sea Urchin Chair.
1965
• Joined the Royal College of Art Furniture School under Professor David Pye where most of his time was spent on research and preliminary work for the Home for Life. He made the Sea Urchin Chair which was exhibited at the Design Centre in the Haymarket, where it became the focus of media attention.
1968
• Graduated from Royal College of Art
• Designed seating for Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
• Produced first record cover, for the group Gun - the beginning of an ongoing collaboration with musicians.
1970
• With brother Martyn took part in the Daily Telegraph Design for Living exhibition at Maples. This project gained national recognition for their work through the press, at a time when both artists had only just graduated from art college.
1971
• Produced the first Osibisa album cover, which attracted widespread attention to his work as an album cover designer.
• Designed his first album cover for Yes.
1975
• With brother Martyn, designed stage set for Yes United States tour.
1976 to 1981
• Published the highly successful Views under the imprint of Dragons Dream, co-founded by Roger and the Dutch printers, Chevalier. Views went to No. 1 in The Times best seller list, stayed there for eleven weeks and went on to sell over a million copies.
• Published Album Cover Album - a visual history of record covers - under imprint of Dragons Dream’s sister company, Paper Tiger. Like Views, this was to be another hugely successful, large format, lavishly illustrated book.
• Collaborated with Storm Thorgerson, Dominy Hamilton, David Howells and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis, the design team known for the surreal photographic images on Pink Floyd record covers.
1982
• Designed Asia Dragon album cover for - later voted the second most successful album cover design of all time, (after Sergeant Pepper) by readers of Rolling Stone magazine.
• First full size prototype of curvilinear house design was built for International Ideal Home Exhibition, Birmingham.
1982 to 1984
• Commissioned to paint a number of pictures for record covers including, Asia Dragon and Asia Pyramid.
1984
• Published second book of Roger and Martyn's work, Magnetic Storm.
1985
• Commissioned by Imagine software to produce artwork for the company. Formed long and productive association with the company which later became known as Psygnosis. Created distinctive and instantly recognisable ‘Owl Face’ logo.
1987
• Painted Freyja's Castle, finished on daughter Freyja’s first birthday.
1988
• Formed company to develop gyroscopic devices, with Professor Eric Laithwaite (Imperial College London), Martyn Dean and William Dawson. (This was a purely experimental venture which, 'revolved' about a shared interest in gyroscopes and their unique properties.)
• One solo exhibition and two collaborative exhibitions of drawings and paintings, with Ian Miller, Patrick Woodroffe and Jim Burns, in Munich.
• Exhibition of Rogers and Ian Miller's work at Brighton Museum - extended twice for a further two weeks, due to popular demand.
• Exhibition in Bath.
1989
• Completed Blue Desert and Red Desert; at 9' x 6', two of the largest paintings produced by Roger to date.
1990
• Rebuilt prototype house Home for Life, to be exhibited at the first International Green Show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
• With Henk Rogers, formed company Curved Space to exploit curvilinear 3D work.
1991
• Built virtual reality simulators E-scape project. Based on Martyn's design of the retreat-pod, it became the ‘virtual reality vehicle’.
• Completed paintings, Yellow City (6' x 4') The Guardians (6' x 4') and Tsunami
1992-1993
• Produce architectural designs for proposed holiday village at Alton Towers and a hotel in Turkey.
• Finished two paintings, Floating Islands (6' x 4') and Shadowland (6' x 4').
1994
• Completed Aria (Acrylic on canvas 6' x 4')
• Formed partnership with Henk Rogers, (Blue Planet Software)
• Developed Black Onyx computer game, bringing together the talents of Henk Rogers - story line; Roger Dean – design; Michael Kaluta - character design; Jazz Coleman – music; Michael Embden - colour renditions; Roald Knutsen - fight choreography; Animatek - animation & landscapes .
1995
• Work on Black Onyx continued; completed two other paintings: Sea of Light (Acrylic on canvas 6' x 4') and Dragon's Garden (Acrylic on canvas 6' x 4').
1996 - 1998
• Work on Black Onyx; produced three paintings: Arches Splash, Arches Morning and Arches Mist
• Moved to new studio
• Painted two album covers for band Space Needle and a logo for, Yes, Open Your Eyes.
1998
• Prototype house shown at Tomorrow's World exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, then at the Glastonbury Festival.
1999-2001
• Produced limited edition screen prints. Each print is made up of between seventeen to thirty hand drawn colour separations. Prints include Dragon's Garden and Arches.
• Created two logo designs, recreated as giclées, Asia and Yes Dragonfly. The finished prints together with some original paintings were exhibited in both America and the UK: San Francisco Art Exchange (US), Grant Gallery, New York (US), Image Maker's Gallery, Philadelphia (US) and Cork Street Gallery, London (UK).
Before her marriage, his mother studied fashion design at Canterbury School of Art. His father was an engineer in the British army where he took the option of going abroad. As a result, most of Roger's childhood was spent away from England - in Greece, Cyprus and Hong Kong. The family returned to Britain in 1959, when Roger went to Ashford Grammar School.
He has a brother, Martyn, and two sisters, Penny and Phillipa.
1961
• Began a three year course in Industrial Design at Canterbury School of Art, leading to a National Diploma of Design, studying both silver-smithing and furniture design.
1964
• Made the first designs for the Sea Urchin Chair.
1965
• Joined the Royal College of Art Furniture School under Professor David Pye where most of his time was spent on research and preliminary work for the Home for Life. He made the Sea Urchin Chair which was exhibited at the Design Centre in the Haymarket, where it became the focus of media attention.
1968
• Graduated from Royal College of Art
• Designed seating for Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
• Produced first record cover, for the group Gun - the beginning of an ongoing collaboration with musicians.
1970
• With brother Martyn took part in the Daily Telegraph Design for Living exhibition at Maples. This project gained national recognition for their work through the press, at a time when both artists had only just graduated from art college.
1971
• Produced the first Osibisa album cover, which attracted widespread attention to his work as an album cover designer.
• Designed his first album cover for Yes.
1975
• With brother Martyn, designed stage set for Yes United States tour.
1976 to 1981
• Published the highly successful Views under the imprint of Dragons Dream, co-founded by Roger and the Dutch printers, Chevalier. Views went to No. 1 in The Times best seller list, stayed there for eleven weeks and went on to sell over a million copies.
• Published Album Cover Album - a visual history of record covers - under imprint of Dragons Dream’s sister company, Paper Tiger. Like Views, this was to be another hugely successful, large format, lavishly illustrated book.
• Collaborated with Storm Thorgerson, Dominy Hamilton, David Howells and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis, the design team known for the surreal photographic images on Pink Floyd record covers.
1982
• Designed Asia Dragon album cover for - later voted the second most successful album cover design of all time, (after Sergeant Pepper) by readers of Rolling Stone magazine.
• First full size prototype of curvilinear house design was built for International Ideal Home Exhibition, Birmingham.
1982 to 1984
• Commissioned to paint a number of pictures for record covers including, Asia Dragon and Asia Pyramid.
1984
• Published second book of Roger and Martyn's work, Magnetic Storm.
1985
• Commissioned by Imagine software to produce artwork for the company. Formed long and productive association with the company which later became known as Psygnosis. Created distinctive and instantly recognisable ‘Owl Face’ logo.
1987
• Painted Freyja's Castle, finished on daughter Freyja’s first birthday.
1988
• Formed company to develop gyroscopic devices, with Professor Eric Laithwaite (Imperial College London), Martyn Dean and William Dawson. (This was a purely experimental venture which, 'revolved' about a shared interest in gyroscopes and their unique properties.)
• One solo exhibition and two collaborative exhibitions of drawings and paintings, with Ian Miller, Patrick Woodroffe and Jim Burns, in Munich.
• Exhibition of Rogers and Ian Miller's work at Brighton Museum - extended twice for a further two weeks, due to popular demand.
• Exhibition in Bath.
1989
• Completed Blue Desert and Red Desert; at 9' x 6', two of the largest paintings produced by Roger to date.
1990
• Rebuilt prototype house Home for Life, to be exhibited at the first International Green Show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
• With Henk Rogers, formed company Curved Space to exploit curvilinear 3D work.
1991
• Built virtual reality simulators E-scape project. Based on Martyn's design of the retreat-pod, it became the ‘virtual reality vehicle’.
• Completed paintings, Yellow City (6' x 4') The Guardians (6' x 4') and Tsunami
1992-1993
• Produce architectural designs for proposed holiday village at Alton Towers and a hotel in Turkey.
• Finished two paintings, Floating Islands (6' x 4') and Shadowland (6' x 4').
1994
• Completed Aria (Acrylic on canvas 6' x 4')
• Formed partnership with Henk Rogers, (Blue Planet Software)
• Developed Black Onyx computer game, bringing together the talents of Henk Rogers - story line; Roger Dean – design; Michael Kaluta - character design; Jazz Coleman – music; Michael Embden - colour renditions; Roald Knutsen - fight choreography; Animatek - animation & landscapes .
1995
• Work on Black Onyx continued; completed two other paintings: Sea of Light (Acrylic on canvas 6' x 4') and Dragon's Garden (Acrylic on canvas 6' x 4').
1996 - 1998
• Work on Black Onyx; produced three paintings: Arches Splash, Arches Morning and Arches Mist
• Moved to new studio
• Painted two album covers for band Space Needle and a logo for, Yes, Open Your Eyes.
1998
• Prototype house shown at Tomorrow's World exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, then at the Glastonbury Festival.
1999-2001
• Produced limited edition screen prints. Each print is made up of between seventeen to thirty hand drawn colour separations. Prints include Dragon's Garden and Arches.
• Created two logo designs, recreated as giclées, Asia and Yes Dragonfly. The finished prints together with some original paintings were exhibited in both America and the UK: San Francisco Art Exchange (US), Grant Gallery, New York (US), Image Maker's Gallery, Philadelphia (US) and Cork Street Gallery, London (UK).
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