Frank Stella

 

Frank Stella is an artist that I have been looking to a lot lately.  My painting professor pointed the similarities out to me between his work and my work.  After his observation I picked up the book Frank Stella: Painting into Architecture to look more into the essence of his paintings.

 

Stella had a desire to go beyond the limits imposed by a two-dimensional frame.  He made reliefs in which his paintings extended from the canvas.  A line that I particularly was drawn to was “Stella is preoccupied with the space created by three-dimensional objects at least as much as with the objects themselves.”  I can relate to his desire to depict the three-dimensional without moving into the realm of sculpture.  It’s an exploration of space that I find as a common ground between me and Stella.  I believe that making artwork should always have a sense of new discovery and playfulness.

Unimaginable Forms

Last Week I watched a TED talk (TED stands for Technology, Education and Design) by a guy named Michael Hansmeyer.  It was interesting because he was working with algorithms to create unimaginable shapes on the computer. He would then bring the shapes to life based off of these computer models.  It got me thinking about the shapes and forms I use as models in a very different way.  The link to the video is below, enjoy!

 

Ted Talk-Michael Hansmeyer

Inspired

Today I discovered an artist by the name of Johnathan Saiz.  His paintings are geometric, like the work I’ve been doing lately, and are inspired by Versailles.  I find his work interesting because the abstraction comes from his own perspective of finding common themes in history.  His splicing of historical images gives a more modern spin on something old.  I’m especially liking how he incorporates the background with the shape without having the “floating object” effect.

For more of his images check out this website http://www.jonathansaiz.com/ALKAHEST.html

Collage the Right Way

by joe webb

 

I’ve been looking at a lot of collage artists and Joe Webb has really been catching my eye lately.  By deleting one figure he really makes a statement about the work.  I like how simple and clean his works are making the viewer focus on a part of the image that wouldn’t normally catch their eye.  For example, in this image above normally the viewer looks at the man’s expression and his embrace but here the focus is brought to the woman’s body and expression.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Exit Through The Gift Shop is a movie about notorious graffiti artists such as Shepard Fairey and Banksy.  It’s a glimpse into the exclusive world of street art.  I watched this movie because of my secret love of street art but I’m very glad that I did.  It was a behind the scenes look at a world that not many people get to see.  Check out the trailer below and watch it (it’s on Netflix).

Research, sortof

Research is a crucial part of the process of creation.  However, it is something that I never really enjoyed.  When looking to research a specific type of art I’ll go to my favorite search engine, stumbelupon.com.  This is a search engine, but a sort of random one at that.  By typing “painting” into the search bar a list of current and past painters is brought up that I can search through.  For example, when looking for images of blurred painting I searched “blurred painting” and several artists came up.  By hitting the “stumble” button you can randomize the list of results and browse at all of the new artists you have just discovered.  When I find an artist that seems relevant to what I’m working on I google them first to find out if they have a website and where their work has been exhibited.

I’m aware that this method of research is not the most direct, but I’m not a person who enjoys the methodical and straightforward.

Some more distinguished magazines that I also like to look at often are Art in America, Artnet (online magazine) and Art Forum (this one is mainly for the pictures).  If I find something of interest like a show or an artist then I’ll do further research on them online, but these magazines are good starting points.

Artist I’m Looking At

Simon Birch is an artist that I found through stumbleupon.com.  He is a young artist who is self taught and has his own unique style.  I’ve seen paintings of out of focus landscapes and images, something like what  a camera would produce.  His paintings are different because of the unique textures that he creates in his works.  I want to use the idea of his work, blurring the image in my own way rather than just realistically recreating it.  My work will create different textures and have a more illustrative nature.  I also plan on making not only paintings but more pastel drawings because I like the heavy layering of color that I achieved in my first drawing.

 

Inspiring Collages

These collages are by Anthony Zinonos, a South African artist and illustrator who now resides in the U.K. I’m inspired by his work because of his minimalistic approach to collaging.  He also lets the human form exist on the page which is something that I am currently exploring in my own work.  Creating an image and giving it the right amount of space to create an impact for the viewer is something that I, as an artist, struggle with.  If you like what you see, check out his website: http://www.anthonyzinonos.com/