Earlier today we chatted with Ulises Farinas as part of our yearly Artist August feature, and now I’d like to go a little bit further if that’s alright with you. I’d like to show off some of Ulises’ work semi-comment free to show exactly why he’s an artist to watch.
Take the above piece, for example, which is mentioned in the interview article. It grabs you in two different ways right off the bat: you’re initially sucked in based on the fact that you’re looking at what amounts to a bad-ass jam of Iron Men fighting the Hulk, and that’s what gets you going. But as you spend more time with it, you begin to see it in an even more engrossing way; you start seeing all the different Iron Men involved, from the latest black suited Iron Man to the prominent Hulk Buster to War Machine to the original Iron Man and beyond. It’s all there, all of these different iterations of one classic character bashing against a monolith in an evocative piece that recalls an entire character’s history in a single image, playing off the tumultuous relationship Banner and Stark have had throughout the years.
And… are those puppies? Yeah, yeah those are puppies. Because.
A lot of Ulises art not featured in his comics are of this fashion. They’re fun, they’re silly, they’re intricate and well designed — they’re pieces of art put together by a master craftsman who is playing in a massive fantasy-fueled sandbox where everything is up for grabs and often will be taken. If the below pieces are any indication, a mix of fan art and even some personal work, Ulises possesses an imagination that is as limitless as comics need to keep going; one that can see the walls of where our reality breaks and push past them for something truly special.
That’s why “Gamma” is so damn great. That’s why as soon as I finished reading an advance review copy of “Catalyst Comix” I e-mailed Ulises and demanded he take part of this feature, so I could ask him questions I had about his work.
I can’t way to see more from Ulises over the years, and after look at some of the below pieces I imagine you’ll be just as excited, if not more so. For even more, check out Ulises’ website.
