Basil Gogos (1929 – 2017) was born in Egypt to Greek parents. His family emigrated to America when he was 16. Not long after arriving in America; Gogos pursued a career in art, attending multiple art schools in New York City. In 1959 he won a Pocket Books competition to illustrate the cover for Pursuit, a paperback western novel.
After the Pursuit cover he never looked back. Gogos went on to paint illustrations for men’s adventure magazines as well as Eerie, Creepy, and other horror pulps. His best known work was for Famous Monsters of Filmland but I’m going to post some of his awesome Men’s Adventure magazine art first.
Basil Gogos’ work for Men’s Adventure Magazines
And a Sci-Fi Novel cover
Horror Themed Artwork
It was with the horror comics that Basil Gogos really came into his own. Using bold, striking colors as a background with the subject basking in several light sources.
In Guillermo del Toro’s “Bleak House” he has some of Gogo’s paintings. I was fortunate enough to see them in person a few years ago at an art exhibit. Like this Hellboy:
Here’s a picture from the exhibition at LACMA. His work is honestly stunning.
Since it’s the horror artwork he’s most famous for, I’m just going to post a ton of them. Starting with my personal favorite. Enjoy:
