THE ART OF ROWENA

Always feminine, often erotic, and usually tinged with irony: fantasy artist Rowena takes modern dilemmas and presents them in a fairy tale world both fanciful and powerful. In The Lovers, for example, a couple grip each other through the bars of a gated door, legs wrapping round the iron as well as each other. Yet, the gate is free-standing, attached to nothing, and the two would have only to walk around it to escape the barrier. But, they do not-keeping their intimacy at a distance by staying inside the prison they themselves have made. Behind them a sun glows, but as Vallejo points out, we cannot know if it is rising or setting on this romance. Above all, Rowena creates extraordinary images of women, as a magical portrait of MIT-trained electrical engineer Susan Ferrer reveals so brilliantly. Over 100 artworks and insightful commentary show the ideas and influences behind this artist who has done covers for--among others--Anne McCaffrey, Issac Asimov, Piers Anthony, Madeleine L''Engle, Samuel, R. Delaney, and even National Lampoon!