When we saw this image, I knew we had to have it on our walls, the depiction by Gab for this piece is absolutely masterful and as it has been such a compelling artwork, I did alot of research into it.
It was originally painted in 2000 and is coincidental and cool that his sign-off of 'oo for the year on the artwork can be interpreted as the infinity symbol, symbolic to the death and rebirth cycle of the Phoenix. It was originally used for the X-men #49 French publication (that collected translated issues of Uncanny X-men #377, Cable #76, X-men Legacy #97 and Generation X #61).
Subsequently, in Secret War #1 (which Gab painted all five issues), Brian Michael Bendis wrote "this is the very first American comic book by the instant legend Gabriele Dell'otto, we thought you'd enjoy a peek at the amazing work that got him the gig." This X-men #49 French cover was one of the five artworks shared in the gallery.
This art was then re-used (with the Janet Jackson superbowl halftime modesty filter "_") for the Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey #1 as both a variant and virgin cover exclusive.
Litho canvas prints were also produced of this art, with 99 of them signed by Stan Lee.
Painted in acrylic onto a 13.75" by 19.25" board but only with an image area of only 8.5" by 13".
With all that white negative space on the board, it allowed us to go bigger on the our usual framing size, and now that I think about it, did Gab (un)consciously leave so much space, to represent, the white hot room (first named in New X-men #152 in 2004)?
I've also included a close up photo to show the texture of the piece. In Gab's words, published in Marvel Secret Work, he describes this painting, "The Phoenix is the first painted cover I made for the French division of Marvel! As I said before, when I first approach a character, I like the idea of being able to capture its essence. The inspiration for this cover came to me while I was going through a magazine. I happened to see a photo of a beautiful female fencer, who seemed to be stuck in a scream halfway between joy and anger, so I thought it was the perfect inspiration for an image dedicated to Jean Grey!"
An image of raw power and the infinite!
