The Borisography: P

No signature or date is visible in my copy of the image. I fear we must blame the magazine's Picture Editor for the loss of this information – most of these paintings are signed close to the edge so I'm guessing that it was outside the area that was actually published.

Greek Mythology: As a divine jest, Pandora was given a box which she was told not to open. Pandora indeed opened the box, and out rushed all the woes of mankind. When she snapped the lid shut, all that was left was Hope.
Painted 1989.

The girl is aiming a gun; the youth has a bullet-hole under his left hand. The youths were modelled by brothers Anthony and David Palumbo, the sons of Julie Bell, Boris' second wife.

The other girl, with the rifle, is apparently a later addition to the painting - the door-frame is visible through her.

I can't tell if the painting is dated - as you can see this is a scan of the trading card but unfortunately the image is cropped partway through the signature. I would guess that it was painted in 1994 (on the basis that there are two other religiously themed paintings for that year.)

The image Felsa: Kala's Tale was produced by digitally combining this painting with a specially painted overlay.

The above title was also wrongly used, in Twin Visions, for another overlay The Void which was also used in the same calendar.

Celtic mythology describes Pedrum as an evil spirit of the mountains who lived in the heart of rocks. He would emerge on rainy days and capture unsuspecting travellers, sucking them into the rock and crushing their bones. The souls of the victims added to his strength. Pedrum was eventually defeated by a gorgeous woman warrior named Maline, who was armed with an enchanted hammer. At the moment of his death, the surrounding rocks changed back into the people he had slain.

Greek Myth: Pegasus was the winged horse who sprang from the "wise blood" of the Gorgon (moon goddess?) Medusa when she was slain by Perseus. When Perseus was flying home on the back of Pegasus, he rescued his future wife, Andromeda, from being sacrificed to a sea serpent. Pegasus is considered to be symbolic of a Hero's journey to heaven.

I assume this was drawn in 2010, immediately before Julie's post.

See Black Powder for the other artwork.

These paintings generated a brief interview in the trade magazine Cigar Press (vol VIII, issue I.) As well as providing the cover for this particular edition, it was also featured in the relevant article together with several other Boris paintings. See the book pages for more information.

Can one possibly detect a bit of phallic symbolism there?.

Greek Mythology: Persephone's beauty so bewitched Hades that he stole her away. Hera interceded on her behalf, so that she spends half her time with Hades and half her time in the world above ground; while she is above ground, Hera mourns and the world turns wintry; when she returns above ground, flowers bloom and plants grow.

See below for one of the pencil drawings from the story.

See above for the painting.

Greek Mythology: Perseus had been sent to destroy the terrible Medusa, a once-beautiful woman whose hair had been transformed into snakes by Athene. To aid Perseus in this quest, Athene gave him a highly polished shield to use as a mirror. Thus, in the fateful confrontation, he could avoid looking directly at the Medusa herself.

Painting is undated.

Intended for the younger reader, this book differs from the usual novel in that it is a text adventure. The reader is presented with a series of narratives which end with them having to choose between a few courses of action (eg 'Run', 'Fight' or 'Do nothing.') The story resumes at a new page dictated by the particular choice. In this way a variety of different outcomes to the story are possible, not all of them being successful ones however.

The player illustrated here is Philip Campion who also uses the moniker Hot Sauce.

The English version of the film was entitled The Phoenix and, as can be seen from the thumbnail, the artwork was used to promote both the original and English versions of the movie.

Boris produced a second painting for this movie which can be seen at War of the Wizards.

I originally assumed that this had been painted 1982 or 1983 but I have since seen a magazine ad from 1979 which features this painting.

The title Phoenix is that provided, at Boris' behest, by the original purchaser of the artwork – presumably based on similarities to the 1991 calendar painting of the same name. I think however that The Apprentice is a more appropriate title.

Greek Mythology: The Phoenix is an immortal bird which is periodically consumed by fire and reborn from the flames.

The video was also released under the title She-Wolves of the Wasteland with very similar artwork by a different artist.

One of Boris' first ten book-cover paintings. In his early days as an illustrator he often used himself as a model, and modelled all the figures here.

Painted 1993.

The design of the figure is, apart from the hat, remarkably similar to Boris' two paintings for the Outlaw Cigar Co box art (Black Powder and Perdition) but it predates those by at least seven years.

Detail of a quite adorable Poochie-Oochie:

The model for the main figure is Ron Coleman, once Mr Olympia, a personal trainer at Boris' gym and frequently a subject in his paintings.

Currently, a slightly modified, monochrome, version is the registered trademark for the Texan company Kirkland Audio LLC, under their brandname Probox. Though the company was created in 2013 it is possible that their predecessor was Boris and Julie's original client but I have been unable to establish whether this is actually the case.

The common title Primeval Princess is straight-forward enough but I must admit to being baffled by the title So What? used in Diva.

Painted 1977.

One assumes this was a private commission.

Bearing in mind that the girl is sitting on ice, she is not wearing the amount of clothing you might expect – such is the world of fantasy art!

Can one possibly detect a bit of phallic symbolism there?.

Painted 1977.

Probably painted in 2005 or 2006.

Professor Xavier was the founder of the X-Men. According to Stan Lee the character's physical appearance was inspired by that of Yul Brynner.

I have no information as to why this was painted.

This was used on card 14, and a promotional card, for the Boris Series 2: The Fantasy Continues trading card set. It was also used on a redemption card for the Boris & Julie: Strokes of Genius card set - lucky finders of this card were able to redeem it for a 22" x 29" (overall size) lithographic print.

Greek Mythology: Pygmalion, King of Cyprus, was a talented sculptor. Among the statues he carved was one of a beautiful woman that he named Galatea. In time he fell wildly in love with Galatea. She made all the flesh-and-blood women he knew seem drab in comparison. Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty and Love, took pity on the lovesick Pygmalion. She turned Galatea into a living woman and presided over the marriage of the two.
Pymalion is modelled by Greg Hildebrandt, one of the twin Hildebrandt Brothers, also great artists.