Exposé 4

More of the known universe’s finest digital art on show in Ballistic’s latest effort…

Can you believe Ballistic’s Exposé series has hit volume four? It seems like only yesterday that we had volume one in our hands. Oh, wait a minute, it was…

The reason is that this highly regarded series of books from Australian company Ballistic is just so hard to put down. Every time you open a volume, you spot something new – an artist you previously missed, or a theme that captures your imagination second time round.

And the same happens with volume four. It’s impossible to put down. These are showcase books that are never tiresome.

Exposé 4 features a plethora of artists, with themes ranging from architecture through to horror, fantasy and faery folk. While this may sound like an awkward juxtaposition, it works very nicely, and the sectioning is logical.

The book also continues the trend of awarding prizes to those artists at the top of their game, with the ‘Grand Master’ award going to SF and fantasy artist Stephan Martiniere. There are other ‘Master’ and ‘Excellence’ awards (look out for ImagineFX contributors John Kearney and Marta Dahlig) as well – adding to the celebratory aspect of the book.

The variety of artwork and artists is coupled with excellent paper stock and print quality – with each copy containing a slip saying it’s been checked by the printers. A nice touch. Another nice touch is the inclusion of four prints to frame if you so wish.

For those feeling flush, there’s a Limited Edition hardback available ($149) with extra artists, as well as a standard hardback ($59).

We thought we might be a little bored by Exposé 4, because the layout and formula of the book is nigh-on exactly the same as the first three. But we were wrong; the IFX team can’t put it down, and we’re pretty confident you won’t be able to either.