The Borisography: J

I guess that the signature and date are outside of the area used for the card. One assumes that, like all the other artwork for the set, it was painted in 1995 or 1996.

Whilst it is true that a manikin can be a type of mannequin, and that spelling is often used for the title of the painting, I should point out that it has an alternative meaning of "…a small man, pygmy or dwarf." This closeup of the girl's cleavage clearly shows which meaning Boris intended.

The shear skill exhibited in painting the fabric and lace of the girl's clothing makes this one of my favourite paintings.

Greek Mythology: Jason and the Argonauts, some two dozen of Greece's finest warriors, sailed on the Argos to retrieve the Golden Fleece, overcoming many dangers along the way - a tale filled with violence and treachery.

This character has had a very chequered history having died and been reborn several times. I am unable to say which version of her is portrayed here.

For those that don't know, IlluXcon is an "…annual convention of artists, students, collectors, and fans of imaginative realist art." The propretors are Patrick and Jeannie Wilshire the latter providing inspiration for the female figure and the original title Jeannie's Kitten.

The painting is undated but I would guess that it was painted in 2002 because during that year the team used the retro 1972 outfit that o'Neal is shown wearing. (A more recent Instagram post says it was painted in 2003.)

If you think the girl's hands look odd here's a closeup:
The story hinges upon a hand bearing seven fingers that was taken from the mummy of an Egyptian queen.

More recently, the painting has been used for a jigsaw and I notice that the two smaller digits have been removed so that the hand now has the correct, albeit unusually elongated, number of fingers

Weider was a very successful businessman in the fitness/bodybuilding world: as well as setting up several bodybuilding magazines he also produced, and sold, fitness supplements and set up the annual Mr Olympia contest plus its spin-off contests. Over the years Boris has produced a few artworks for, or related to, a number of these businesses.

The painting was used for the month of June in the 2014 Fantasy Calendar.

Rand's 1957 book Atlas Shrugged, set in the early part of this century, tells the story of John Galt who is a political activist. A crucial part of the tale towards the end of the book is where he is captured and tortured by the government, a scene graphically illustrated in this painting.

This painting was found on the original version of the Imaginistix web site (where it was laterally reversed) which gave the title but no other information.

Germanic Mythology: Jotun was a benevolent being; the Valkyries made offerings to him in exchange for strength in battle. The Jotun could adopt different shapes and would accompany the Valkyries into battle, remaining invisible to their opponents.

Curiously, whilst in my copy of the calendar the painting is clearly signed and dated 2012, the image that I downloaded from the internet is clearly dated 2011! The original painting was dated 2007.

Unless I mistake the face greatly, the male model is Dorian Vallejo.

Boris's wife, Julie Bell, also produced a painting in the same calendar.

Although Mirage does not use any titles, this painting is referred to as Jungle in Boris' introduction. I have since discovered that the french version of the book, which does have some titles, also uses this same name. Despite all this, it is more commonly referred to as Leather Jacket.

Julie drew the female figure whilst Boris frew the male one.

Painted 1976.

The painting also appears in the book Fantasy Art Now edited by Martin McKenna (I L E X, 2007) for which Boris wrote the foreward.

Various illustrations of the painting have been stretched at the top (and, I suspect, at the bottom) to change an almost square painting into a vertical format. Not only that, the point at which the stretching commences varies from one source to another – two examples are shown together with the original (on the left.)

Owners of the Boris II - The Fantasy Continues trading card set may recognise this cartoon: it appears on the back of several of the cards.

As usual, Justice is protrayed as blind and carrying a sword and scales. Here, she is modeled by Boris' favourite model – his wife Julie Bell (who does in fact feature in many of Boris' painting for the set.)