Monday, December 12, 2011

CHUCK CLOSE- BRAD PITT


This portrait of Brad Pitt was similar to the portrait that Chuck Close did of Kate Moss.... The style shows the rawness of the human and gives the viewer a microscopic view to every crevice on their face. I enjoy this portrait because it amazes me how daring Close was. He went to the details that cosmetic companies hope to change. He makes art out of every day people, and points out their "flaws" in a way that makes it very beautiful to look at. You don't really see it as a flaw, you see it as a purity of who the person actually is.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Belarusian painter Leonid Afremov is one of the most colorful painters you’ve never heard of.  His skill with a palette knife and oil paint creates vivid scenes and cityscapes full of bright colors and watery reflections.  His thick strokes are almost mosaic in nature, but the result is not without detail where the colors merge.  Afremov’s landscapes capture the emotion of a casual stroll through an old Belarusian city, with all the vibrant color and culture alive in this artist’s perspective. The paintings from this artist are amazing simply because of the use of colors. It brightens up any environment

Peter Blake - Last summer


I decided to do this by Peter Blake because we have been studying him all semester. This is an advertisement for Coke in the UK and I liked how he Incorporated there culture. I also like how all the colors in the rainbow are in this. It really catches my attention and makes me want to buy this product.

America- Andres Serrano

This is America by Andres Serrano. It was done in 2003 and is a photograph. I chose this picture because with all of the shows pertaining to little girl beauty queens it is interesting to see less glamour and more of the natural girl. When i look at little girl beauty queens now all I see if fake and when I look a this I see a real little girl who is a winner because she is naturally beautiful. I like this because it does show her natural beauty. The color in the background really highlights her eyes and her purple outfit. I also like that with her sash it is making her look like miss america but yet she is only a little girl. It shows what a child aspires to be an that is he dream to be a beauty queen.

Andrew Tift "Lisa Law" (original Mexico Hippe)

I chose this picture because I really liked the colors and patterns. There is color throughout the whole painting. I liked how Andrew Tift painted this picture. There's a lot of detail in the picture. Also the woman is directly in the center of the painting which I thought was a unique technique. It reminds me of Mexico because of the colors. I think he also depicted the woman meditating well. She looks calm and peaceful. This painting really shows the expression of the woman.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

statue of liberty, 1962


i picked this painting by Andy Warhol because i like the style in which he did this work, which was silkscreen ink and spray paint on linen. it is a very simple concept and could have a bunch of different meanings to it because it is a picture of the statue of liberty.

Andrew Tift's "Laughing Cowboy"

Andrew Tift's painting, "Laughing Cowboy" stood out to me because of its exquisite detail and coloring. He seems to capture his subject in his paintings so well that it almost looks like a photograph. I enjoyed this painting because of how rich the coloring was and how life-like it seemed. Most of Tift's works are portraits and he paints a wide variety of people, all in different scenarios. Tift was able to capture every wrinkle and line in the "Laughing Cowboy" and even emphasized his straggly teeth, which I thought was humorous. He seems to really capture the essence of a person and I believe this painting is a great representation of the work that Tift does.

Shirana Shabazi- Goftare nik

The is a C-Print done by Shirana Shabazi and is entitled Goftare nik (good words). It is part of a series she did on the landscape and people of Iran. I choose this because the little girl looked so cute. She has big round blue eyes that seem like they are looking right at you, they do however seem almost a little cut out almost. Her lips are also opened a little. It makes me wonder what they were doing to make this little girl stop and look so they could create this picture.

Midnight Waterloo by susan hiller

This self- portrait was made by Susan Hiller  in 1987. This portrait caught my eye because the picture looked almost as though it had been written or graffitied on. She is captured almost scared looking and very serious, almost as if something had just happened and she was not expecting it. This picture was really unique and many different qualities that I have not seen before. Many portraits before and after this one captured the graffiti/ scribble look and really captured her viewers. 

"Unknown" 2011

Since this is our last blog post of the semester, I decided to stray from the artist list in our text and just go with an artist I know I enjoy. (David Walker is definitely one of my favorite artists) He challenges the concepts of fine art through his beautiful graffiti/photo realistic style and he paints on canvas and in public places. This is one of his more recent pieces which I love! I have just always been drawn to the layering of color and the splatter patterns. He doesn't use paint brushes or any tools but for spray paint. His figures remind me of angels. The scale of his work is also captivating, most f the public domain works he creates are on the sides of buildings or store fronts, this "Unknown" 2011 painting is on canvas, but it too clears 5 feet in height.

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Woodmen and Gardeners, 2002 - Andrew Festing


I chose this picture because I thought it was really different from most of the other pictures we saw in class. What I really liked about this picture was the colors used and the way everything was painted. I think that the oil on canvas brought out the scenery and it almost made the picture look very life-like.What I also found interesting about this picture was that the Earl of Leicester initiated portraits of employees in modern times, which is why Andrew Festing painted his staff on his Holkham Hall estate in Norfolk. I liked how the portrait was of his employees because I thought that it was very different than just a picture of an average or famous person. I also liked how this portrait "depicts [the] outdoorsmen in their working environment, striking casual poses, dressed in their workers' garb."
Belarusian painter Leonid Afremov is one of the most colorful painters you’ve never heard of.  His skill with a palette knife and oil paint creates vivid scenes and cityscapes full of bright colors and watery reflections.  His thick strokes are almost mosaic in nature, but the result is not without detail where the colors merge.  Afremov’s landscapes capture the emotion of a casual stroll through an old Belarusian city, with all the vibrant color and culture alive in this artist’s perspective. The paintings from this artist are amazing simply because of the use of colors. It brightens up any environment

Final Slides










Final Slides