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ARTIST FEATURE // VINCENT VAN GOGH

‘Sunflowers’ is one of van Gogh’s most recognised paintings, a still life that is captivating and alive with colour. He managed to capture the differing stages of the plants dynamic life cycle, as we see them developing, flowering, and wilting. Tones of lemon and golden yellow are used predominantly throughout the composition, the stems containing strokes of lime and forest green, large parts of the flower earthy ochre, with subtle dabs of red along the edges. A brilliant little splash of blue inside one flower contrasts against the brown and the orange. The layering of paint is sparse in some areas, the impasto heavy in others. The painting seems to spring. The lines of the brush fade off and come back. This is a work of expressionism, not perfectionism, this is a painting, and this is life.

The Van Gogh Museum provides an awesome interactive website where you can read stories about Vincent, learn about his life and work, and explore his remarkable collection.

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en

#vincent van gogh #vincent #van gogh #sunflowers

ARTIST FEATURE // GUY YANAI ~ LINES OF PAINT

Guy Yanai uses painterly strokes and geometric compositions to create works that are beautiful, elegant, and identifiable. Yanai has an amazing sense of colour and uses vibrant, daring tones. Rather than blending the paint he uses a flat, striking, and eye-catching palette, often blocking in and emphasising shadows. Yanai paints both the landscape and the figure in his works, but seems also to have a strong affection for the plantscape.

Check out his website www.guy-yanai.com for exhibition details, works, books, and more.

#guy yanai #plants #paint #still life #colour

So Sick

#badpainting #funpainting #art #scribble #colour #tone

While I have been posting about Basquiat I thought I would share this little study from art school, which was my first ever attempt with oil paints, done around 2010.

#jean michel basquiat #basquiat #oil paint #study

Jean-Michel Basquiat (b. 1960) was a Neo-expressionist painter who was largely influenced by the graffiti subculture, symbolism, drawing, race and identity. Basquiat stated that his main subject matters were “royalty, heroism and the streets.” Basquiat had an automatised style of painting and this is reinforced through the quote: “I start with a picture and then finish it. I don’t think about art when I’m working. I try to think about life.”

My University painting teacher (and great artist) Jelle van den Berg once stated “Basquiat is surprisingly tribal for a metropolitan figure, he seems to transcend the role of ‘artist’, to that of a witch-doctor, a medium to pacify good and evil forces, to create an equilibrium of dynamics, hence he can’t think through art, it will lead only to relationships of colour, not to his intention to act as a mystic. We will always look for ways to make art meaningful, not art.”

#basquiat

I initially created these works for a painting bodies class at University in my first year, a subject almost all art students partake in. In my second year we had a little bit more freedom with major works, and I had just recently bought a book on Basquiat. I was already familiar with Basquiat, but this book showed me drawings and paintings I hadn’t seen before. I decided to reuse my old painting bodies work as a basis and appropriate parts of Basquiat’s work over the top. I later donated these works to our faculties ‘Nude Auction’, an annual fundraiser for third year students. Though I missed the auction, these were the first artworks I ever sold. I’m not sure how much they went for. I see Basquiat’s influence almost everywhere, and I think this may be due to the fact that he drew influence from many things including books, films and television, street life, people, music and culture. Basquiat too had his predecessors, but he went on to develop his own unique and fiercely autonomous painting style, easily recognisable, never truly replicable.

ARTIST FEATURE // JOAN CORNELLA

They say that art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Testament to this is the curiously disturbing and comedic art of Joan Cornella. You might just laugh, you might just cringe... It’s weird shit!

http://elblogdejoancornella.blogspot.com.au/

#joan cornella

ARTIST FEATURE - CRAIG DAMRAUER // ‘New Math’

Craig Damrauer is the contemporary artist behind the series New Math, a digital project that ran from 2008-2014, with new content uploaded to a website weekly until 2010.

New Math is exactly what the title suggests, new word equations that express aspects of the world in which the artist lives. Math, like art, can be simple and complex, rational and irrational. This image represents an equation for the complex problem that is modern art. The work is brilliant in it’s simplicity of the phrase. But, there’s more to this work than what lies on the surface. There’s more to this equation.

Check out the rest of the series at http://assortedbitsofwisdom.com/

#craig damrauer #new math

This is some new work inspired by Barbara Kruger’s email aimed at Supreme. I’m not even sure how authentic the email is, but damn it’s good. If you’re not familiar with the email or Supreme’s suing debacle have a read through this article by Complex: http://au.complex.com/style/2013/05/barbara-kruger-responds-to-supremes-lawsuit-a-ridiculous-clusterfk-of-totally-uncool-jokers

Everyone appropriates everyone, nevertheless, it’s great to see a great response from a great iconic artist.

#supreme #barbara kruger #fools #clusterf**k #uncool #jokers #copyright #suepreme