The demons do come off much better, but many of them are more weird than frightful. Some do stand out, such as the Australopithecine demon, and one of the lesser demons whose clothes are made from human flesh (it is interesting that Barlowe nearly discarded the latter from the work for failing to fit in with his overall theme). Many, however, are simply too abstract in morphology to really disturb. Wayne Barlowe conjures the Inferno with Boschian particularity. This is a unique volume by an extraordinary artist.” ~ Clive Barker, author Sargatanas before the Behemoths– (from BRUSHFIRE: Illuminations from the Inferno, acrylic on ragboard) – Created primarily as siege weapons, the Behemoths can prove to be potent weapons upon the battlefield as well. Equipped with two massive bone-hammers and a heavy chin-blade these greatly enlarged souls are the once-cruel rulers of Asian empires transformed by the Demon Major Yen Wang to suit his needs. Donated to the Rebellion, they proved to be an invaluable military asset to Sargatanas.

Sargatanas– (from Barlowe’ Inferno, acrylic on ragboard) – A former seraph and now a Brigadier General and Demon Major of enormous power, Sargatanas was a hero in Lucifer’s War with Heaven. Since his Fall, he has established himself as one of the few demons capable of rivaling the Prince for control of Hell. God’s Demon is his story.

Our Gryphons Are Different: In Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy, griffins are fancifully portrayed as a species of real, albeit extinct, creatures native to Central Asia, which endured until at least the first century AD before dying out for unknown causes. In a nod to speculation that the griffon myth arose from early discovery of Protoceratops fossils, they are portrayed as literally being descended from a mutant strain of the actual dinosaurs, and consequently depicted as Protoceratops with avian wings and long, feather-tipped tails. Female griffins excavated extensive tunnel systems in which to brood their eggs, often bringing gold to the surface as they did, but only a very brave or very foolish person would have risked delving into a griffin's nest to get it. Salamandrine Man – (unpublished – Painter IX) – I discovered a reference to the Salamandrine Men or Men of Wrath in an old book and was immediately intrigued. I decided to transform them into the indigenous peoples of Hell, there long before the demons Fell and the Inferno was populated by the damned. I see them as fierce fighters, tribal and semi-nomadic, hunting Abyssals and waging a constant battle against not only the extreme elements of the Wastes but, also, the demons and souls. Aware that their era is coming to a close, their heightened bitterness compels them to acts of wanton aggression against any intruders who stray into their territories. This “painting” is a first for me. It is rendered entirely in Painter IX and represents my very first effort with that marvelous program. Starting as nothing but an experimental sketch, it took two days to render – a time that would have probably been double or triple that if I had used actual paint. For a very long time now I have been relatively skeptical about the ability of any computer rendering program to emulate the personal handwriting of an artist. I stand corrected. Even though he worked roughly two hundred years ago there is yet a transcendent majesty to William Blake’s vivid, mystical painting’s and etchings. His idiosyncratic style is still fresh and captivating and this painting is something of an homage to him. Blake was one of the most interesting artists and poets of his day and I would be remiss in not mentioning that he, too, fell under the spell of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the single greatest influence on my Hell work.

It's claimed that Milton conceived of the idea for his great work in this very building, the Hotel Astoria in central Florence, the Tuscan city that was also the birthplace of Italy's epic poet, Dante Alighieri. The Examination – (from Barlowe’s Inferno – acrylic on ragboard) – While souls are treated as a resource by demons in an unthinkable number of ways in Hell, a true understanding of them as once-living organisms on a physical level is absent. The fact that Lucifer went to war in large part because of them has created a curiosity that many demons find irresistible. The inspiration for this painting is fairly obvious: all of those great Flemish paintings of medical examinations, of doctors gathered around splayed-out corpses. Nearly all of the look of the demons was improvised invention. I had a rough to work from and then, brush in hand, “grew” the figures on the board with layers of detail. I often do detailed drawings before putting paint on the palette but this was not the case with this painting. I wanted to enjoy the act of creating these inquisitive demons and felt that being too slavish to a sketch might make them less lively. Barlowe is a life-long student of paleontology, anthropology and ancient history. He also started reading SFF at an early age. Artistically, beside the early influence of his parents, Wayne grew up loving Howard Pyle and the mystic grandeur of William Blake. When asked a few years ago as to what art/artists impressed him currently, he had this to say: Compared to artists like Pieter Bruegel, Gustav Klimt, Zdzislaw Beksinski, Hieronymus Bosch or more precisely to John Martin’s Pandemonium painting, Barlowe falls into the category of fantastic glaucous painters, able to manufacture fear and fascination at the same time. The introduction of the book is followed by a foreword from the artist himself. Extremely interesting and compelling, you learn more about the inner motivations behind the Inferno and about the man himself.The notion of a pre-existing fauna indigenous to Hell before the demons arrived opens up a whole line of conjecture. What would their evolutionary course be? What new life-forms could we find? While this painting represents a semi-intelligent individual, there must be countless Abyssals that are mere animals. Much as I did with EXPEDITION, I plan to do a series of wildlife paintings focusing on the fauna of Hell. One is underway as I write this. A vision of Hell that in originality, ingenuity and inspiration rivals the classics. This particular inferno is the work of Wayne Barlowe, who’s created many unforgettable art and prose books but with this one, an oversized hardcover, undoubtedly hit some kind of pinnacle. Also peaking was the publisher Morpheus International, an outfit best known for publishing glossy H.R. Giger monographs (such as H.R. GIGER’S NECRONOMICON); with BARLOWE’S INFERNO Morpheus surpassed its already high standards.