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Behind the scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey like you’ve never seen before

Behind the scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey like you’ve never seen before

Not many people were allowed on to the 1960s live film set of 2001: A Space Odyssey, possibly one of the most influential films ever made. Director Stanley Kubrick liked to keep things very tightly controlled. However, lucky for us who love to get behind the scenes, pioneering illustrator Brian Sanders was allowed unfettered access (at the invitation of Kubrick himself) and the resulting illustrated record of the filming process and the film sets are currently being exhibited nearly 40 years after the film’s release. Brian Sanders: Selected Works: From 2001 A Space Odyssey to Mad Men is open at The Lever Gallery in London’s Clerkenwell.

moon-pit-kubrick-2001-a-space-odyssey-exhibition
BRIAN SANDERS
Moon Pit 01, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1965
1965 print from transparency of mixed media on canvas original
Illustration of the filming of the Moon Pit scene
Signed Limited Edition Print
Edition 20 (+ 5 artist’s proofs) numbered and signed by the artist
Size approx 120 cm X 120 cm
Medium Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.
AVAILABLE TO BUY ONLINE >
Signed Edition – print nos. 1 to 5
Signed Edition – print nos. 6 to 10
£790-£825

Sanders is part of the British post war art and illustration talent that first made it’s mark in the 1960s. He was an early adopter of the new techniques and compositional styles of commercial art coming out of America at the time, and he mastered a combination of draughtsmanship with a technique called “bubble and streak” which makes for very textural illustrations. Such an approach put him in great demand with many magazines of the time including the highly influential NOVA.

brian-sanders-illustration-art-kubrick-2001-a-space-odyssey-exhibition-framing-a-shot
BRIAN SANDERS
Kubrick framing a shot, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1965
1965, print from transparency of acrylic on board original
Kubrick checks the framing of a shot.
Signed Limited Edition Print
Edition 20 (+ 5 artist’s proofs) numbered and signed by the artist
Size approx 78 cm X 60 cm
Medium Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.
AVAILABLE TO BUY ONLINE >
Signed Edition – print nos. 1 to 5
Signed Edition – print nos. 6 to 10
£355-£385

In 1965 Kubrick invited Sanders onto the set of 2001, where he drew on set two days a week and then working up larger paintings in his studio. Most of these remained unpublished for decades. If you’re in London, these really are the kind of things you need to see in the flesh. Simply stunning. And what’s more some limited edition prints are available for sale.

brian-sanders-illustration-art-kubrick-2001-a-space-odyssey-exhibition-moon-pit-2
BRIAN SANDERS
Moon Pit 02, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1965
1965, print from transparency of acrylic on board original
Illustration of the filming of the Moon Pit scene.
Signed Limited Edition Print
Edition 20 (+ 5 artist’s proofs) numbered and signed by the artist
Size approx 81 cm X 65 cm
Medium Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.
AVAILABLE TO BUY ONLINE >
Signed Edition – print nos. 1 to 5
3 Available – £275.00

The exhibition also contains Sanders 60s and 70s work from The Sunday Times and Nova and his 2011 work on Mad Men, but it’s the Space Odyssey work which had us at Film and Furniture gawping most intensely.

brian-sanders-illustration-art-exhibition-mad-men
BRIAN SANDERS
Mad Men, print of illustration for Series 6 of the TV series, created 2013
2013, Print of Illustration, Signed by artist
This is the final signed edition available of a total 12 that have already been sold.
The print is approximately 83cm wide x 110cm tall. It is mounted on to conservation grade mountboard and presented in a white wooden box frame glazed with anti-reflective glass.
AVAILABLE TO BUY ONLINE >
Brian Sanders work on display at The Lever Gallery
Brian Sanders work on display at The Lever Gallery

The exhibition Brian Sanders: Selected Works: From 2001 A Space Odyssey to Mad Men
is open until July 29th 2017
at the Lever Gallery, Clerkenwell, London.

You may also be interested in:

2001 A Space Odyssey – a close look at those fabulously futuristic Djinn chairs and how Kubrick’s vision of the future was brought to life through ‘product placement’.

Futuristic cutlery fit for a Space Odyssey

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