Jean-François Podevin (b. 1954)
Snow Crash
signed and dated with artist's monogram, signature and cipher (ink on verso)
photographic colour print mounted print on illustration board, heightened in acrylic and gouache, with matte varnish finish
24 x 20in. (61.2 x 51cm.)
executed in 1992

The original dust-jacket artwork for the first edition of Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash.

Published in 1992, Snow Crash is a major cornerstone of the cyberpunk genre, celebrated for its exploration of virtual reality, linguistics, anarcho-capitalism, and the intersection of human consciousness with technology. One of modern science fiction’s most important works, it was nominated for both the British Science Fiction Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and remains a key influence on science fiction and the tech world.

The novel follows Hiro Protagonist, a sword-wielding hacker and pizza deliveryman in a dystopian near future where corporations control society and the digital world is as real as the physical. In Snow Crash, Stephenson imagines a future where the internet evolves into the ‘Metaverse’, a fully immersive digital space that would later inspire everything from virtual reality to the naming of tech giant Meta.

The present artwork was created by Jean-François Podevin to grace the dust-jacket of the first edition of Snow Crash as published by Bantam. Podevin’s art is a striking visualization of the novel’s futuristic and anarchic world, combining digital and traditional techniques to capture its high-tech, high-stakes tone while also reflecting the chaotic energy and fast-paced narrative that has since made Snow Crash iconic in the realm of science fiction. It features a photomontage composition with hand-painted elements, reflecting the book's blend of physical and virtual realities. Podevin's innovative approach involved creating digital images, outputting them as 35mm slides, then using color xeroxes to compose a photomontage, which was further enhanced with painting and airbrushing techniques. Podevin’s artwork has become synonymous with the novel itself, adorning multiple editions and translations, and remains one of the most recognizable depictions of Stephenson’s groundbreaking vision.