Noted fantasy artist Ken Kelly got his first big break in the business from Warren Publications, producing cover works for their various horror titles, starting with Vampirella #6 (July, 1970). While Kelly stayed with Warren for 11 1/2 years, it only took six years for his style to become polished enough to garner the young artist repeat commissions from major fantasy book publishers. In 1977, Kelly was judged to be just what the Berkley Publishing Corporation was looking for - someone whose cover paintings could communicate the dynamic quality of Robert E. Howard's prose and verse. It was at this time that Berkley was in the midst of reprinting all of Howard's known works, and they needed cover artists to supply finished painting for each new volume in the series. Kelly's work certainly filled the need, offering all of the larger-than-life elements that imbued each new volume's stories. It should be added that Kelly's work is not just big in content, but in physical dimension as well. It is obvious with many of his paintings that he prefers to work in extremely large scale. We can easily understand the necessity for this, based on the detailing that Kelly includes in each of his works. But the scale is only one of the talented artist's trademarks. A depiction of incredible strength in his subjects, coiled-steel movement - always frozen at its most intense moment, dramatic light sourcing, and intriguing use of mood-establishing colors. These are all strikingly evident in Kelly's best paintings. Most importantly, his best paintings glow with an almost mirror-like finish that is captivating. The contract that Kelly received in 1977 from Berkley was an important one for his career. It offered a series of high-profile assignments that allowed the artist to produce his earliest wrap-around cover artworks. Kelly gave it his all. He painted cover works whose exciting qualities he has yet to rival, despite his now-lengthy professional career. Offered here is what I believe to be the best of his series of covers for the Robert E. Howard reprint series. It is entitled "Chamber Of Illusions", and it depicts the climatic scene from a short story that was included in the Berkley volume, "People of the Black Circle". The main image had to be centered to the right, as this was done as a wrap-around cover, with the right side taking the obvious position of the front cover. But Kelly used that necessity to his advantage, picturing a progression of dead and dying sorcerers that led to Conan's final, living foe. The oil painting was executed on canvas board and has been signed and dated "1977" in the lower right corner. The framed painting has an exposed image area of 39" X 29" that appears to remain in a flawless state of preservation.