Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Todd Lockwood about Fantasy

I know that this subject isn't new and every time it has much debate around him. Nowadays you can find a thread, over at SFF World, that talks about being ashamed for reading fantasy. I'll say again this, altough you may know that already, I love fantasy because it has no boundaries, because it lets the imagination run free and because like George R.R. Martin says "The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams". And I'm not ashamed to admit that my main reading material comes from fantasy.

But I discovered yesterday that the same debate is around fantasy art too. It seems that fantasy art is treated equally with fantasy literature, I mean underappreciated. Over at Todd Lockwood's blog (one of the best artists and one that among other things gives us such a joy with his excellent cover arts) I found a very interesting answer for those who reject fantasy, art in this particular case and the entire concept in general.

Here are two quotes that filled my heart with joy:

"What we lose by dismissing Fantasy is huge. The genre is metaphor..."
"Fantasy art is about the ineffable, secret heart of human existence that our stories and cultures have sought to define for millennia. It is about Discovery."

The article is called "Red-Headed Step Child" and, like I said, you can find it at Todd Lockwood's blog.

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