Thursday, August 8, 2013

CHUCK CLOSE

Chuck Close is an American portrait artist who was born in Monroe, Washington in 1940. By the age of four, Close knew he wanted to be an artist. At age eleven, Close's father died and his family lost their home. Art was Close's defense against manic depression. Close attended the University of Washington, Seattle and graduated in 1962 with his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1964, Close moved to the East coast and enrolled in Yale University's masters program for figurative art. After graduating, Close achieved fame for his larger than life Hyperrealist portraits. In 1988, Close was rendered quadriplegic because of a spinal artery collapse, but this did not end his career. Close changed his process to accommodate his handicap and has continued to produce portraits that are impressively realistic. Close continues to live and work in New York.

Bob, Chuck Close, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 108 x 84 ”, 1969-70.

Close's pieces have been portraits since his college years in the 1960's because they are what interest him. Close takes photographs of himself and people in his life and works from the photo to generate a larger than life depiction of them. Close then lays out the composition as a grid on a canvas. I have always been against using a grid because it allows for less chance of an awesome error, but I have never considered myself to be a strict realist and I have never worked in a very large format. Close says, “ My work has always been driven by self-imposed limitations.” I need to severely limit myself in order to achieve successful works.


Mark, Chuck Close, Acrylic on Canvas, 108 x 84 ”, 1978-79.

Close is the most prominent portrait painter of the second half of the twentieth century. I eventually want to work large scale the way that close does but not in Hyperrealism. After looking at Close's works, I know how I want to produce my series of paintings for my Honor's Research Grant. Whether or not this will carry over into my series for Senior Seminar, I am unsure. I have never had a concrete painting process because I have only painted for a year now. However, I am currently devising a set of rules I will follow to complete a series of six self-portraits. I will stay in a bare white walled room without sleeping until the series of six paintings are done. I will not begin a new painting until I feel comfortable with the first one being complete. I will clean and restart my palette between each painting. I need strict discipline to shape a dedication to painting and process that I have yet to contrive.

Self-Portrait, Chuck Close, Acrylic on Canvas, 108 x 84 ”, 2002-03. 

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

PETER DREHER

Peter Dreher is a German realist painter born in Mannheim, Germany in 1935. At an early age, Dreher desired to be an artist and began drawing. Later he moved to painting as a freedom from the turmoil in his homeland and household during World War II. Dreher was formally trained as an artist at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe.

                                            
Tag um Tag Guter Tag #1364, Peter Dreher, Oil on Canvas, 8 x 10 ”, 1997

Dreher's paintings have consistently been still lifes of common objects. Dreher's process is cathartic and spiritual because he strives to paint the unfamiliar in the familiar through realism. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Dreher paints to paint. Dreher's most epic piece, Tag um Tag guter Tag is a series of paintings of more than 4,000 paintings of the same simple water glass. He has painted the same glass every day since 1974. Through this series Dreher challenges himself to paint objectively and his viewers to see objectively. Dreher is heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism.
Tag um Tag Guter Tag II #1946, Peter Dreher, Oil on Canvas, 8 x 10 ”, 2006

I was not initially fascinated by Dreher's works. I thought they were good, but far from my style and interest. After researching Dreher and better understanding his ideology of painting and the themes of his work, I am fascinated by he and his art. I relate to his feelings on painting. Dreher describes an addiction to spread paint across a surface to explore something. I feel a similar tension between myself and the act of painting. The decision to paint does not always come as a choice. I need a strict process and schedule to add to my work to make it successful and to transform my urge into a sanctum.


Tag um Tag Guter Tag #2016, Peter Dreher, Oil on Canvas, 8 x 10 ”, 1997



Monday, August 5, 2013

ANSELM KIEFER

Anselm Kiefer is a German painter, sculptor, and photographer. He was born in 1945 in Donaueschingen, Germany. Since early in Kiefer's childhood, he wanted to be an artist. Kiefer attended the art academies in Freiburg and Dusseldorf Germany. In school he studied under Peter Dreher, and then Jospeh Beuys. Kiefer has always had a focus on German history and the Third Reich. Kiefer is renowned for his paintings, but he began his career as a photographer. His first photograph series consisted of pictures of himself around Europe signaling the Nazi salute.

Bohemia Lies by the SeaAnselm Kiefer, Oil, emulsion, shellac, charcoal, and powdered paint on burlap, 75 1/4 x 221 ”, 1996

Kiefer's paintings often revolve around a theme of Germany's abandoned past and the somber and macabre leftovers of the Third Reich. Later in his career, during the late eighties, Kiefer incorporated mythology, existentialism, and psychoanalytic themes into his paintings. Many of Kiefer's paintings reveal to us the epitome of Western tendencies in regards to setting. He reaches into and is blessed with access to a collective memory of ideas and histories. Kiefer's paintings are grandiose in scale, process, and depth.
I love his pieces with a one-point perspective composition. There is enormous anxiety within such pieces because when looking down a field of parallel lines that touch at the horizon, there is an innate sense of future of an impending arrival. What generates anxiety more than an assumed future?

Velimir Chlebnikov, Anselm Kiefer, Oil, emulsion and acrylic on canvas with mixed media, 12 x (74 13/16 x 110 ¼ ”, 2004

Immediately after seeing Kiefer's paintings, I was fascinated by his use of ordinary found materials encrusted in paint to create thick and penetrating impasto. His paintings depict a nature destroyed. Landscapes have not intrigued me the way in which people and portraits do. However, I seek to produce portraits that show an ego destroyed, an organic identity revealed, and conscious creation drowned out by the echo of destruction.

Aperiatur Terra et Germinet Salvatorem, Anselm Kiefer, Oil, acrylic, emulsion and shellac on canvas, 110 1/4 x 299 3/16 ”, 2005-2006





Sunday, August 4, 2013

MARLENE DUMAS

Marlene Dumas is a South African contemporary painter. She was born in 1953 in Kuilsrivier, South Africa. In 1975, she completed her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Cape Town. Dumas was heavily inspired by the work of photographer, Diane Arbus. She then moved to the Amsterdam in 1976 where she studied at the Institute de Ateliers on a scholarship. Her first solo exhibition was in 1983. She now lives and works in Amsterdam.
Jule-die Vrou, Marlene Dumas, Oil on Canvas, 49 x 41 ”, 1985

Dumas's early works are primarily collage. However, in 1984, she began painting the human figure and portraits. She uses the figures in her works as forms that evaluate society's conceptions of identity, sexuality, and race through the lens of current issues, personal experience, and art history. Like many of her contemporaries she works from photographs she has taken or found. The painting Jule-die Vrou was part of her 1985 exhibition, The Eyes of the Night Creatures. The show featured portrait paintings Dumas did hoping to invoke empathy for her subjects from her audience.


Naomi, Marlene Dumas, Oil on Canvas, 59 x 43 ”, 1995

Like Dumas, I am concerned with human identity and what motives/factors formulate one's private and public persona. It is interesting to know that every face is capable of expressing emotions drastically different from their typical. Do we get stuck in a feeling because we have so rigidly defined ourselves that we even have a default feeling. Painting from life is conducive to capturing a true feeling because time and lack of communication allow the subjects walls of expression become transparent. If I decide to work from photographs that I take, then I would like to have my subjects pose for a long duration and wait until their default emotion fades before I capture them in a moment. 

 Jen, Marlene Dumas, Oil on canvas, 43 3/8 x 51 ¼ ", 2005

Thursday, August 1, 2013

LUCIAN FREUD

Lucian Freud was born in 1922 in Berlin, Germany. He was a figurative painter working primarily in realism. He is considered to be one of the greatest modern figural painters. In 1933, his family relocated from Berlin to London. When Freud was seventeen, he had began publishing his drawings in magazines such as the Horizon and becoming active within the avant-garde and homosexual communities of London. In 1939, Freud began his formal art training at the Central School of Art, the east Anglian School of Painting, and later Goldsmiths' College. Freud had his first solo exhibition in 1944. He remained a resident of London for the duration of his career and became a leading figure of the group of artists known as the School of London. Freud consistently worked as a painter and draughtsman for over forty years until 2011 when he passed away.
Reflection (Self-Portrait), Lucian Freud, Oil on Canvas, 22 x 20 ”, 1985

It was in the 1940's that Freud became serious about drawing portraits. He repeatedly painted his first and second wives. Early in Freud's painting career, he explored the human existential crisis through portraiture. By the early 1950's it was apparent that Freud had drifted from the problem of expression to the problem of creating the flawless illusion of reality. All of his paintings maintained a desaturated palette. Freud's focus was obsessive. In 1966, he found fascination in female nude bodies, then in 1977 he shifted his artistic obsession to the male nude body. It was in his female nude period that Freud had his mother and daughter sit nude for him. Many of Freud's models were close with him.


David Hockney, Lucian Freud, Oil on Canvas, 16 x 12 ¼ ", 2002

Freud is one of the most influential artists of my art. After looking at his work and seeing his paintings in museums, I better understand the importance of value and color for accurately describing the human body and form. His subtle use of color is masterful and yields a fluid composition. His portraits are typically of morbid faces and macabre figures. Allusions to Freud's style have subconsciously become present in my own paintings. I have not adopted a process similar to Freud's. He only painted from live subjects and dedicated massive amounts of time to each piece thus making his works more observational than experiential. I would like my process to be far quicker than his own. I do take preference of live models than images though. With my portraits, I do not seek to convey one emotion. Instead, I want to present facial expressions that suggest an infinite possibility of feeling because regardless of what we feel and are capable of feeling, we remain bound to our body and identity.

Benefit Supervisor Sleeping, Lucian Freud, Oil on Canvas, 59 5/8 x 86¼ ”, 1995

JOHN CURRIN

John Currin is a contemporary figural painter. He was born in 1962 in Boulder, Colorado. In an interview, Currin said “I decided to be an artist when I was eleven or twelve because that's what I was good at and it is where my heart lies. You're not as in control of what you ought to do as you think.” Currin took art lessons from his violin teacher's husband. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and then earned his Master of Fine Art degree from Yale University in 1986. He now lives and works in New York City.

Shakespeare Actress, John Currin, Oil on Canvas, 48 x 44 ”, 1991

Currin says his paintings begin as a vaguely aesthetic idea. Otherwise, Currin does not have a universal method for generating his works. He likes to have subjects energetically extending out of the picture plane, like in sports and pornography. His subject matter primarily focuses on the female body and face. He saves mounds of images from newspapers, magazines, and videos to reference along with the mirror, models, and his wife. For example, his painting The Hobo was inspired by an old English engraving. His paintings are elegant and masterful in their craft and are often satirical depictions of conventions of beauty and contain awkward proportions reminiscent of mannerism. Themes present in his work are libertines, socialism, post-war Europe, and the “Bombastic burlesque of European life. Currin's paintings are undoubtedly influenced by Renaissance artists, but he also draws influence from Willem de Kooning, Paul Outerbridge, Eadward Muybridge, American movies, illustration, advertising, and Danish pornography.


Bea Arthur Naked, John Currin, Oil on Canvas, 38.2 x 32 ”, 1991

I am more intrigued by Currin's compositional layouts and craftsmanship than I am by his subject matter. I mostly seek to reference Currin's portraits and not his figural narratives. His portraits with a flat background are eloquent, penetrating, and achieve more universal human themes than his narratives. If I decide to solely do portraiture, I may use a flat background similar to Currin's in Shakespeare Actress and Bea Arthur Naked. His well blended painting style does not adhere to the progression of my work. My recent portraits are verging more on the style of Lucian Freud's works.

Skinny Woman, John Currin, Oil on Canvas, 50 x 38 ”, 1992





Sunday, July 28, 2013

STAN BRAKHAGE

Stan Brakhage was an avant-garde filmmaker who worked in film from 1952 up until his death in 2003. Brakhage was born in 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri and worked as a live radio and recording soprano throughout his childhood. He entered Dartmouth College but dropped out as a freshman to pursue his interest in film. Two years later he enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute where he met many beat generation poets such as Robert, Duncan, Robert Creely, Kenneth Rexroth and Louis Zukofsky who would influence Brakhage's ideology. In 1954, Brakhage relocated to New York City where became acquainted with John Cage, Edgard Varese, Maya Deren, Jonas Mekas, and others. In 1955, Brakhage was commissioned by artist Joseph Cornell to make the film Wonder Ring. After watching this film, it is noticeably the predecessor of his style present in later films. The camera was an extension of Brakhage's eye. He recorded phrases of his experience to present a feeling as it develops in time. In 1964, his 16mm camera was stolen and resulted in a five year period focused on 8mm works.

The Wonder Ring, Stan Brakhage, 6 minutes, 1955

Many of Brackage's films focus on the loss of innocent and imaginative vision in humans as they age in a society. Other themes in his film are sexuality and mortality. Brakhage was a man on a progressive journey to abandon the material connection the brain makes with the eye. In his book Metaphors on Vision, Brakhage writes Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception.” Brakhage was an innovator of process. In his films such as Dante Quartet, Water for Maya, and Love Song, Brakhage would paint on a reel of film and sometimes use multiple exposures to give the span of the film's length continuity when projected.

Dante Quartet, Stan Brakhage, 6 Min, 1987


Brakhage is considered to be an artist who created art for art's sake. His ideas, process, and themes are of great inspiration to me. Brakhage is a unique artist because of his unrefined eye. He used color, light, and an emulation of the eye's motion and saccades through a camera lens to give a raw aesthetic. I anticipate exploring the medium of film, but regardless of my medium his mode of storytelling and ideas on vision will influence my process and product. For my senior seminar exhibit I am leaning away from the idea of formal painting and more towards mixed media and projection art to create my body of work.

Desistfilm, Stan Brakhage, 6 minutes, 1954

Saturday, July 27, 2013

LUC TUYMANS

Luc Tuymans is a contemporary Belgian figurative painter known for his works focusing on the decay of an image as it is communicated, translated, and reinterpreted. He was born in 1958 in Mortsel, Belgium. From 1976 to 1982, Tuymans attended multiple schools where he studied fine art and painting. He attended Sint-Lukasinstituut, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre, and the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen. In 1982, Tuymans brought a halt to his painting and studied art history at the Vrije Universiteit and pursued his interest in film. 1985, Tuymans returned to painting and exhibited his work in an emptied swimming pool of the Palais des Thermes, Ostend. Since his first exhibit, Tuymans has risen to prominence and become a key artist in the revival of modern painting. He now lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium where he paints and curates.

Me, Luc Tuymans, Oil on canvas. 43 1/2 x 53 5/8 ", 2011. 

Tuymans works from found photographs and video stills often relating to Belgium's history, WWII, the congo, 9/11, Disney, and the corporate world. He claims that violence is the only recurring theme throughout his work. His paintings are easily recognizable for the pale and reduced color scheme he utilizes. Tuymans says that “tones much more than color influence how you memorize imagery. A painting has a different time span and physicality than reality. By making a memory more physical we make it more inadequate.” Tuymans believes it is important that each work stands out by itself but also works together. He typically paints light to dark.


Der diagnostische Blick V (The diagnostic view V), Luc Tuymans,  Oil on Canvas, 22 7/8 x 16 1/2 " 1992 

Days after I came across Tuymans paintings, the images were still returning to my mind because of their unhealthy coloration, subtle sense of despair, and ambiguous context. It was interesting to acquaint myself with works that were similar to what I have currently been creating without referencing it prior. I painted intensely cropped portraiture with washed out colors early in the summer and now coming to find Tuymans's perfected version of the style is deeply inspiring and motivating. I am currently split between working from pictures and working from live subjects. Each has its ups and downs. I do not wish to paint from historic subjects unless they become relevant to the present situation or could enhance the conveyance of a contemporary idea.

  Diagnostische Blick IV, Luc Tuymans, Oil on Canvas, 22 1/2 x 15 ", 1992 

Monday, July 15, 2013

YAN PEI-MING

Yan Pei-Ming is a modern expressionist portrait painter whose works are loose and representative of the roles that their subjects play in society. Pei-Ming was born in 1960 in Shanghai, China. He did not attend art school in China due to the highly competitive application process, but he did take part in a program called the propaganda studio. At age 20, Pei-Ming moved to Dijon, France in order to attend the École des Beaux-Arts. He later attended the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques in Paris, France. He gained notoriety for his large format portraits of Mao Zedong. Pei-Ming made a significant breakthrough for Chinese art in the Western context because he was the first Chinese artist to exhibit at the Louvre. Pei-Ming now teaches painting and drawing at his alma mater, École des Beaux-Arts.

Fighting Spirit, Yan Pei-Ming, Oil on Canvas, 118 1/8 x 118 1/4 ", 2012

A consistent theme in Pei-Ming's work is universality. He walks the line between figuration and abstraction, perhaps to portray the universal through the abstract and the unique through the representational. Pei-Ming states that “within my portraits, I am illustrating theories.” Theories that are closely tied to his political views. Pei-Ming's works are typically large and monochrome. He thwarts the power of color to ensure that it does not detract from the essence of a moment or feeling. Black and white are all Pei-Ming needs to convey a feeling. Pei-Ming is heavily influenced by Francisco Goya.

Self-Portrait as a Hooligan, Yan Pei-Ming, Oil on Canvas, 137.8 x 137.8 ", 2003


I am drawn to Pei-Ming's paintings because of their dramatic weight and expressive brushstrokes. Each painting feels heavy as if it is bearing the weight of its subject's body and power. This is due to the careful placement of values. Pei-Ming strives not to paint people from history, but people who are alive now. I agree fully with this decision because what is more relevant than our contemporaries? Portrait painting is where I am presently stuck. The human head is of fascination to me because it is the crown jewel of two billion years of evolution. Inside of the head is where all perception, feeling, thought, spirituality, and emotion exists. The combination of all of the sensory information yields a visualization of the person's identity in the form of a facial expression. 
Grand Timonier, Yan Pei-Ming, Oil on Canvas, 98 3/8 x 98 3/8 ", 2000


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

FRANCESCO CLEMENTE

Francesco Clemente is an Italian Neo-Expressionist painter and 2-D artist. He was born in 1952 in Naples, Italy. He moved to Rome in 1970 to study architecture, but did not complete the program and instead directed his focus towards his artwork. At age 19, Clemente had his first solo exhibition in Rome. In 1973, Clemente went to India for the first time where he would later spend much of his time. In 1980, he left India for New York, gained notoriety in America, and collaborated with visual artists such as Warhol and Basquiat and writers like Ginsberg and Creely. Currently, Clemente spends his time working between New York, Italy, and India.
Grisaille Self-Portrait, Francesco Clemente, Oil on Canvas, 12x 12.5 ",1998

Clemente's work focuses primarily on the female body, self-portraiture, non-western spirituality, sexuality, and dreams. Clemente's vast collection of self-portraits stems from his belief that they are reflections of the fragmentation of the self; something organic and expanding from a center. Clemente claims the goal of the artist is to see the circle by stepping out of it. His concern has more specifically focused on images that break with the customary notion of the ego, continuity of discontinuity, and gaps in our experience. All of his work is about becoming aware of connections. Clemente says “I'm in love with the fragility of life.” and “Painting is not so much about decision, but acceptance.”

                                              Alba, Francesco Clemente, Oil on Linen, 46 x 92 ", 1997


I am largely fascinated with the themes present in Clemente's work. In coming of age, I have developed concern with the self, spirituality, and sensuality. I would like to reestablish the notion of conflict originating from inside the self as a subjective response to an outside fact instead of the thought that problems are directly related to the outside. The self is too often excluded from the equation. His series The History of the Heart in Three Rainbows was deeply moving to view and understand. He painted the series as one large watercolor and then cut it into the completed pieces. This could be a process that I would like to use for creating a body of work so that it is possible to understand the series to be one piece whilst working on it and later partition it into an experience. Clemente's self-portraits are also very inspiring to me because of their expressionist feel and depth of emotional content. I use self- portraits to imitate an out of body experience. When successful, I am able to focus on myself objectively through a perspective that is nearing the third person.  
                           The History of the Heart in Three Rainbows (III), Francesco Clemente, Watercolor on Paper, 2009

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

ERIC FISCHL

Eric Fischl is an American painter, sculptor, and print-maker, though he is best known for his narrative paintings. He was born in 1948 in New York City and grew up on Long Island. His family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1967 where he studied art at Phoenix University and completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the California Institute for the Arts. Fischl decided to pursue art when he discovered how painting was an integral part of himself. He repeatedly heard that painting was dead, so he rebelled. After moving to Nova Scotia and teaching painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Fischl moved back to New York City where he had his first solo show in 1979.

Bad BoyEric Fischl, Oil on Canvas, 66 x 96 ”,1981

Most of Fischl's paintings are narratives focusing on contemporary American culture in a darkly comedic way.Fischl is Influenced by the expressive nature of San Francisco painters such as Richard Diebenkorn, Dave Parks, and Elmer Bischoff. Fischl largely is a proponent of the convergence of art and science and was once part of a group of artists and scientists that would discuss how art, science, and human nature intertwine and react. Fischl describes his process as working backwards from high-end technology to create a more primitive result. He photographs a scene, alters the image in Photoshop, and then proceeds to produce a painting from the altered image. His narratives often depict their subjects paused in a poignant moment portraying the more timeless qualities of themselves. Viewers are able to imagine the subjects' past and future to encapsulate the described moment in the way of a story.


Dog Days (Diptych), Eric Fischl, Oil on Canvas, 84 x 168 ",1983 

I am intrigued by Fischl's subject matter and outlook on painting. I am not as much interested by his process of manipulating images in Photoshop because that makes painting less of an intuitive response to the subject and more of a formulated response to my ideas. His critical yet playful look at society is far from arrogant and inserts himself in the hidden mania of our culture.

                                 The Bed, The Chair, The Sitter, Eric Fischl, Oil on Canvas 73 x 93 ", 1999

Saturday, July 6, 2013

CECILY BROWN

Cecily Brown was born in 1969 in London, England. Her painting style is reminiscent of American Abstract Expressionists such as De Koonong and Guston but is different in that it is less abstract and more figural than the majority of their work. Brown's father exposed Cecily to fine art and painting at an early age because he was a famed art critic in England and was acquainted with artists like Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. Cecily attended the Epsom School of Art in Surrey, England to study art and design from 1985 to 1987. In 1987 she enrolled in printmaking and draughtsman classes at Morley College in London. In 1989 Brown attended the Slade School of Art and in 1992 studied at the New York Studio School. 1997 proved to be a breakthrough year for Brown due to her first solo exhibition with Deitch Projects in New York, since then she has had numerous solo exhibitions.
New Louboutin PumpsCecily Brown,Oil on linen, 206 cm x 205 cm, 2005

Cecily Brown's paintings walk a thin line between figuration and abstraction, but she does not consider her work to be abstract because of the distinct figures often present. Brown strays from typical figural painting because of her belief that it is too close to illustration or a definition. Brown strives for her paintings to have a conflict or argument within themselves and from one painting to the next, but details are ambiguous because she wants her works to have a life of their own. Not only is Brown heavily influenced by Abstract Expressionists, but also by more classical artists like Reubens, Titian, and Bosh. Brown works seven days a week on her art and has become a widely acclaimed contemporary painter.


Single Room Furnished, Cecily Brown, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 75 ", 2000

I was immediately captivated by Brown's paintings because of their aura of raw energy. Her paintings appear to be entirely intuitive responses to the erotic world that paint has created within her mind. They radiate energy outward and depict an entropic sensuality. The sporadic lines and splotchy combining of other visual elements makes for an intriguing visual path and immediate stimulation of the viewer. Her subject matter is not conceptually cutting edge, but the content and manner in which she depicts it once again pushes the boundaries of paint as a medium. I would like to progress my painting in a direction of looseness similar to Brown's and emphasize the painting process more then the painting itself.

The Fugitive Kind, Cecily Brown, Oil on Linen, 229 x 190.5 cm, 2000

Friday, June 28, 2013

LOU ROS

Lou Ros is a contemporary French painter whose roots are in graffiti. He began painting at the age of seventeen tagging alleyways, buildings, and signs across the Parisian sprawl. He graduated from simple tagging to elaborate murals and now, at the age of 28, is emerging as a powerful ephemeral painter in the world of fine art. Ros never attended an art school. He works large and quick. His work is a blend of reality and his imagination allowing viewers to experience the transcendence of imagination into reality. He often references photographs for the subject matter of his painting. Ros is inspired by past and contemporary expressionist painters like Francis Bacon and Cecily Brown along with the writings of French art historian Georges Didi-Huberman. Ros claims to paint instinctively.
Corpus 10, Lou Ros, Oil on Canvas, 63 x 45 " 2013
I am most drawn to his portraiture because it exhibits a lot of emotional content and focuses more on accurately depicting the emotion and narrative than it does on the subject. His other works are figural pieces and disjunctive narratives with dark and often erotic undertones.
YG, Lou Ros, Oil on Canvas, 36 x 28 ", 2011
Ros completed a series of paintings of choreography, Corps & Graphiquement that are packed with energy. His organic marks and minimal detail dance across the canvas bringing movement to the pieces that establishes an understanding of the next move the dancers will execute.
Corps & Graphiquement, Lou Ros, Oil on Canvas, 39 x 39 ", 2009

I often want to tear across a canvas with a large brushstroke because of my drained focus of attention on the subject and persistent need to be physical. Like Ros, I am more sucessful with an intuitive painting process because it allows for less deliberation so that my decisions are not thought out but automatically concluded. Ros has found a well-enough niche to insert himself into modern painting, and has come to manage his natural gift at realism and portraying expressive content while leaving enough details ambiguous so the viewers can respond to his work differently.  

Thursday, June 27, 2013

PETER DOIG

 Peter Doig was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1959, but then moved to Trinidad with his family in 1962. After four years in Trinidad, his family moved to Canada in 1966. Canada was where Doig discovered his interest in art. He was seventeen and working for a gas drilling crew in the Canadian countryside when he decided he needed to pursue an interest so that he would not be drilling the rest of his life. During his free time Doig started to draw pictures of landscapes. From 1979 through 1983, Doig studied art in London at Wimbledon and St. Martin's, then in 1989 he attended the Chelsea School of Art to gain his master's degree.  

 Blotter, Peter Doig, Oil on Canvas, 98 x 78 " 1993
Doig primarily paints landscapes, some of which contain figural subjects. Working a lot using photographs as references, Doig uses both his own and found images. Inspired by artists such as Munch, Monet, and Klimt, Doig presents his paintings as “the actuality of the scene blended with the visions in his head” trying to relay how our society fits into the more natural world.

One of Doig's most famous group of paintings are of architect Le Corbusier's post World War II apartment structure, Unité d'Habitation,  tucked away behind thick foliage. The modern architecture surrounded by an encroaching nature captivated Doig who would walk around the subject sites and film his trek on a video camera to later view video stills as reference for his paintings. This process allows for more variable and sense of an experience than taking a single photograph and referencing it.
 Concrete Cabin West Side, Peter Doig, Oil on Canvas, 106 x 79 ", 1993
Doig does not work on paintings with the mindset that they will be a part of a series, instead he paints them as one-offs and sometimes is able to find links between them that allow them to work as a series. For example, his Le Corbusier paintings were done over eight years time between 1991 and 1998.
Doig presently resides in Trinidad where he has a studio in Port of Spain and draws influence from the Caribbean carnival practices. He also teaches as a professor at Düsseldorf State Academy of Art and has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions. 


I am drawn to Doig's works because of their visual sense of a chaotic calm. His representations of nature are energized and often overwhelming. However, the man-made structures he portrays present order to contrast with nature and provide a visualization of how we as humans have partly succeeded in separating ourselves from the chaos of time and the natural world. His color palettes are congruent with his ever-present use of contrast. Doig blends highly saturated color with more drab tints, tones, and shades relevant to his color scheme to create a coherent tension with design elements. Doig's energetic use of line and mark making creates movement within his paintings that give them life and convey the “odd couple” relationship that modern society shares with nature. 
Okahumkee (Some Other People's Blues), Peter Doig, Oil on Canvas, 79.92 x 94.49 ", 1990