Synopses & Reviews
When the renowned cartoonist Ralph Steadman was asked to produce a piece for a recent exhibition of bird art, he got slightly carried away - it did, after all, make a nice change from politicians.
He allowed his imagination to run wild and, an astonishing 100 paintings later, Ralph's Extinct Boids was born ...
These remarkable pieces of art include Steadman's unique interpretations of well-known birds such as the Great Auk and Dodo, along with less familiar members of the avian firmament - Snail-eating Coua, for example - and a handful of bizarre creations such as the Gob Swallow, the Nasty Tern and Needless Smut, all with a riot of colour and a slice of trademark Steadman humour.
This is a bravura performance by one of the world's leading contemporary artists.
About the Author
Ralph Steadman is a world-renowned cartoonist and caricaturist, and one of Britain's finest and best-loved artists. Originally labelled a 'gonzo' artist, he first burst onto the national consciousness by providing the illustrations for Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Since the 1960s he has worked on projects as diverse as Private Eye and Punch, illustrations for collections of poetry by Ted Hughes, Alice in Wonderland and Animal Farm, and the Royal Mail - Steadman designed a set of stamps. Alongside a host of illustration credits, Steadman's previous books include Gonzo - The Art (Harcourt Brace, 1998), Doodaaa: The Balletic Art of Gavin Twinge (Bloomsbury, 2003) and The Joke's Over (Heinemann, 2006).