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An eye-level matte painting hand-painted by matte painter Matthew Yuricich from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. In the film, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) hung from a roof just before he was saved by replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer).

The sequence - one of the most recognized in all of 1980s cinema - was accomplished by compositing live-action photography with a matte painting Yuricich created at his brother Richard Yuricich and Douglas Trumbull's Entertainment Effects Group (EEG), setting the film's compositing effects apart from the chroma key compositing that had become prevalent in other films by that time. Two slightly different shots of Deckard dangling from the roof utilized the same painting sequence, though this particular painting depicting an mid-building perspective of Deckard amidst the dystopian Los Angeles architecture was ultimately unused in the final cut.

Yuricich worked with the assistance of Rocco Gioffre and Michele Moen to create paintings for the film, which was nominated for an Academy Award® for its groundbreaking visual effects work. Gioffre and Moen would go on to become acclaimed matte artists in their own right, cementing Yuricich's renown as both artist and mentor. The film later received numerous nominations for its visual effects, including for such prestigious awards as the Academy Awards®, BAFTA Awards®, and Saturn Awards®.

This ornately detailed matte painting, "The Canyon" as Matt Juricic himself would refer to it in later years, is rendered in mixed media, including acrylic paints, on masonite by Yuricich and applied with black tape around its borders. The painting incorporates a black and white photo blow-up on the left side featuring Deckard hanging from the roof's edge. Blade Runner's optical compositing process produced a blue-color-shift as a result of an intermediate duplicating film stock. This meant the mattes did not read in the final film as they did when painted; Yuricich had to anticipate this blue-shift and select colors accordingly which is the reason the painting features heavy brown tones. This painting's loose brushwork is designed to guide the viewer's eye from the peripheral painting to the central live-action while its restrained pallet deftly creates a subtle illusion of depth. It is hand-marked "Blade Runner" on tape on the side, as well as "5A" and two "5" accompanied by the numero sign. The right upper corner features an additional hand-marked tape tag for "BR" with an "X." On the reverse are four black-ink stamps stating the reproduction rights were reserved for Yuricich. This painting exhibits chipped Masonite along the edges, lifted adhesive from tape, chipped paint, and notable paint marks, as well as discoloration, on the back. Dimensions: 80.5" x 34.75" x 0.5" (204.5 cm x 88.25 cm x 1.25 cm)

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Yuricich was the captain of the Twentieth-Century Fox baseball team and was presented with a Yankees team-signed ball by Marilyn Monroe, who was married to Yankee star Joe DiMaggio at the time.


Estimate: $25,000 - 50,000