Syd Mead, legendary ‘Visual Futurist’ behind such films as STAR TREK, BLADE RUNNER, TRON, ALIENS, 2010, and others, cut his teeth as an automobile designer for Ford, General Motors, US Steel, Honda, and he eventually helped to found the Transportation Design department at Art Center College of Pasadena. His industrial design clients included Philips, Sony, Minolta, Bandai and he designed the interiors of luxury 747 jumbo jets and yachts for the Billionaire set. George Lucas based his Star Wars AT-AT on Mead’s designs, and his impact on car design and neo-futurism is still felt today.

This extraordinary painting has been loaned to at least three museum exhibitions. People recklessly throw around the term “modern day Da Vinci,” but Syd Mead truly was.