Artist: Yoshimoto Nara

Well, I'm not going to waste too much time talking about him because he's so widely known there's nt much point in regurgitating a bunch of info that can be found anywhere. Of the two very famous Japanese Artists, Yoshimoto Nara and Takashi Murakami I'd say Nara is my favorite although comparing them is sort of unfair. Murakami's works are, well, flat (duh) and generally in my opinion a little unfeeling (though they are awesome). Nara, on the other hand, seems more emotional in his work and I particularly love the cute but obviously danerous little girls he portrays. I recently got to look through the book from his first American Exhibit that a friend of mine has and it made me fall even more deeply in love with his stuff.

There are lots of places to see his work. Check it.
sweet
Awesome
Right on
Dude
Fantastic

Artist: Jeremiah Ketner

From his own site:

"Jeremiah Ketner, a chicago based artist who tends to paint charming little creatures floating through pastel dreamscape's. His Japanese pop art influenced imagery tends to describe the a more casual and carefree side of life. Ketner has been busy painting and exhibiting his works all over the nation."

Short and sweet. Kind of like his paintings which are very sweet and sugary looking. Instant love for me of course, which I guess has to do with the cute critters and their japanese influence. But his newer work, which he describes as having a "more human element" appeal to me even more since the feature lovely figures amongst all the sweetness. I'm not even going to bother looking up what the critics say because I don't care.

yummm.

and my favorite, klimt inspired piece:

Artist: James Jean

James Jean's work is featured on the latest cover of Giant Robot Magazine and I fell in love instantly with the painting. He was born in Taiwan but moved to the US at the age of 3 and currently works out of L.A. From what I can tell, he is most well-known for his work on Fables, a Vertigo comic that is definitely very different from the usual Marvel or DC fare (think more along the lines of Sandman-which is also vertigo). His work is beautiful and incorporates a kind of fantasy world which I can only grasp at in my own imagination (I'm working on that). The interview in GR makes him sounds pretty chill and laid back, definitely a person I'd like to meet. It talks a lot about the current work he's done for Prada, including the New York Wallpaper which aparently has attracted more visitors than any other wallpaper...woot woot for illustrators on that point.

In any case. All I can really say is LOVE!

Artist: Tim Biskup

The animator/painter/toy creator Tim Biskup is pretty neat. He work(ed?) at cartoon network on a show called 'Time Squad' which I never really watch but his style reminds me a lot of some of my favorite CN shows, 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends' and 'Samurai Jack.' His website explains that CN animators work a lot together and often draw inspiration from each other's styles and the like-this makes plenty of sense. In any case, I can't say too much about his style except that I really love it. I've always sort of admired the blockier-square style of animation, if only because I'm too conscious of reality to actually accomplish it effectively (whatever that means-it makes sense to me anyway). I would totally buy his toys and clothing stuffs if I had the money and I didn't really want to save up for a Toki-Doki purse.

Niiice.

Artist: Banksy

If there were one thing I would want to be clever enough to do it would be street art. Not political cartoons, because you have to be both clever and more than a little mean to do that. Not modern sculpture and abstract stuff, because to me that seems to be more about technical cleverness. Street art, graffiti art, can be both simple and powerful, tongue in cheek, political, mean, smart, base, whatever and it's awesome because people HAVE to see it out on the streets. I mean, you can't just walk by a big ass painting on the sidewalk and NOT see it. Some is cute, some is not, but it always blows my mind and makes me go: gee I wish I could do that!

Here's one guy, Banksy. Some of his stuff creeps me out and makes me feel a little disturbed inside but mostly it just kicks ass.





Banksy

Art Movement: Young British Artists

I remember learning about this during my survey of contemporary art but I felt the need to refresh my memory a bit. This movement, which dominated the 9o's, seemed to spring out of the lack of public funding for art the artist's need and desire to shock audiences. Most of the artists of the movement graduated from Goldsmith's college in London and although uniform technique wasn't really a prerequisite, an openness of mind seemed most necessary in that any kind of material could be used and a satisfactory shock factor produced. I guess the movement is criticized as gimmicky by some although I doubt anyone could say that the works produced aren't incredibly interesting and visually stimulating, even if they do make use of shock value to earn merit. the biggest proponent of the movement was Charles Saatachi who bought up pieces for his own collection which he began showing. The movement culminated in the show "sensations," which was put on by the Royal Academy but was really Charles Saatachi's on personal collection. Of course, nothing solidifies an artist's importance like controversy and there was tons around this exhibit, even more when the show moved to New York.

The most famous piece of the movement:

"The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living."
Damien Hirst

Artist: Xenia Hausner

I am the ultimate sucker for paintings of people, especially when they are filled with vibrant color and emotion and a kind of deep feeling which makes you feel like you're looking into someone rather than at them. Xenia Hausner's work, I think, falls under this category. Born in Vienna, she spent the early part of her career designing theater, film, and opera productions. After she moved to Berlin she began to focus on painting and produced acrylic paintings that were vibrantly colored and aggressive in technique. Her work is described as "combines the energetic and unsettling style of such German artists as Otto Dix and Max Beckman with the warmth and subjective immediacy of figurative art". Hausner herself seems to be interested in telling the stories of the women she portrays and I can't help but sense strong personalities behind every painting she has. Her recent works combine photography with painting and other media and have a new depth about them which place the subjects in more contextual situations than her older paintings. Writing on some of her newer works, Hausner says "Their life histories are to be told in new ways – a fact that leads to novels that follow another course. People are still at the center of focus, their entanglements get stranger. Threads of the plot that used to run linearly get tangled in mysterious objects." Maybe the mixed media helps represent this entanglement and all that jazz. Whatever the case, I can't resist her work.

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Link out: "Trash" and Art

This is a pretty awesome little article on seven artists who use trash to create...not a bad idea considering how expensive the alternative is...

WOAH!

Artist: Fiona Rae

I saw an ad for her show at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London and was drawn immediately to the bright colors, abstractions and lines in the painting used for the ad. Looking up information on her I find that Fiona Rae is a relatively famous painter, one of the Young British Artists, she was born in Hong Kong but grew up(?) in England. Critics seem to lover her work, according to one article because, "they love that they get it." Her works, which seems to be a cool and fresh take on Abstract Expressionism which relies as heavily on the culture around it as it does the painterly techniques. She has apparently compared herself to Tarantino in the way of "borrowing and editing" to create something new.

Mood is difficult to determine in her paintings, which I love! I know so many artists I like use bright or seemingly innocent images which actually tend to have a darker meaning or mood. Her work seems to be similar in its ambiguity. I also like that her work draws so much on her predecessors. That seems invaluable in making awesome works.

I would love to see this stuff in person to really get close to the technique and experience it all.

Some of my faves:

More Information, check it:
ArtNet
Wikipedia
Saatchi Gallery
Article
The Artist.org
Artcyclopedia

Intro

Just "arting around" and trying to educate myself on both contemporary artists and classics. If you know anything about these artists or artists related to them then please comment and give me some more education. Awesome.