Tag Archives: Artists

Art Profiles: Haitian-American Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Video)

Sothebys LogoFrom the anatomical features of Da Vinci to the fractured features of modernist portraiture, the human head has reigned supreme in Art History. Enter Jean Michel Basquiat – the consummate draftsman for a new age. Discover how Basquiat revolutionized the genre and captured the manic core of the human condition through his masterwork Untitled (Head), 1982, to be offered as a highlight of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York. Encapsulating the incredible dexterity that defines the very best of the artist’s works, and extraordinary for its use of India ink under the oilstick to lend depth and contrast to the composition, Untitled (Head) is a heroic depiction that reflects the explosive talent and brilliance of its author.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of SAMO, an informal graffiti duo who wrote enigmatic epigrams in the cultural hotbed of the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the late 1970s, where rap, punk, and street art coalesced into early hip-hop music culture. By the 1980s, his neo-expressionist paintings were being exhibited in galleries and museums internationally. The Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of his art in 1992.

World’s Top Painters: Bird Artist Vanessa Foley – “Sacred, Stylistic Beauty”

Vanessa Foley - Bird ArtistVanessa Foley is a professional bird artist based in the North of England. She regularly shows her work in notable galleries in the UK and America, has work in private collections worldwide and is a member of The VACVVM, an international cult of illustration co-founded by Aaron Horkey & Mitch Putnam.

VANESSA FOLEY - TOWARD A SECRET SKY

Vanessa Foley - Bird ArtistAn artist from Newcastle, England she is known for her intensely detailed graphite drawings and emotionally rich oil paintings. She has become a long-standing member of the Antler Gallery roster since we first exhibited her work four years ago.

Vanessa has embraced the stylistic beauty that oil painting offers an artist representing subjects accurately. The density and delicacy of the feathers in her paintings of birds of prey is stunning. In this series she has chosen to focus on the nocturnal, incorporating owls and moths. (Antler Gallery).

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New Art Books: “Walton Ford – Pancha Tantra”

walton_ford_update_2020_fp_int_3d_43453_2001151040_id_1294265In this stunning but sinister visual universe, beasts and birds are not mere aesthetic objects but dynamic actors in allegorical struggles: a wild turkey crushes a small parrot in its claw; a troupe of monkeys wreaks havoc on a formal dinner table; an American buffalo is surrounded by bloodied white wolves. In dazzling watercolor, the images impress as much for their impeccable realism as they do for their complex narratives.

At first glance, Walton Ford’s large-scale, highly detailed watercolors of animals recall the prints of 19th-century illustrators John James Audubon and Edward Lear. A closer look reveals a complex and disturbingly anthropomorphic universe, full of symbols, sly jokes, and allusions to the ‘operatic’ quality of traditional natural history.

Walton Ford - Pancha Tantra - Taschen

First available as a signed and limited volume, this updated edition of Pancha Tantra is the most comprehensive survey of Ford’s oeuvre to date, with 40 new works, more than 120 additional pages, and a new essay by the artist. It features dazzling details, an in-depth exploration of his visual universe, a complete biography, and excerpts from his textual inspirations: from Indian folktales and the letters of Benjamin Franklin to the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini and Audubon’s  Ornithological Biography.

Also available in an Art Edition limited to 100 copies, each with a print signed by Walton Ford

The artist

Walton Ford, born 1960, studied filmmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design, but soon realized he was a painter. For the last 20 years he has been creating large-scale narrative watercolors. His work has been widely exhibited, including solo shows at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

The author

Bill Buford is an author and New Yorker staff writer, as well as the founding editor of Granta, which he edited for 16 years. His books include Among the Thugs and Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as a Kitchen Slave. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

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Top Artist Profiles: Abigail McBride – Oil Paintings With The “Heart Of A Poet”

Abigail McBride - Artist Compelled to chronicle the life and world around her, Abigail Faye McBride paints with the heart of a poet. Her oil paintings and charcoal drawings bear witness to a time, person or passing glimmer of light. Abigail paints landscape, figure and still life working interchangeably with brush and palette knife. Collectors, nationally and internationally, appreciate the color, mood and elegance of her work.

Abigail McBride - Hearty Breakfast

A consummate Cape School colorist, the draftsmanship in her work is born of an academic interest in the portrait and figure. Her work blends traditional subject matter with modern design sensibilities. She is part of a new breed of perceptual painters working from direct observation be it plein air or in the studio. Though often free of narrative, her work is grounded in the present day as a contemporary interpretation of genre painting.

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Artist Tribute: Wolf Kahn (1927-2020) – “Lust For Life”

“I have a good relation with black,” says Wolf Kahn. This is not obvious. The painter stands in front of an unfinished oil—a pattern of trees, a slice of sky—and nothing of it argues “black”; we are in the realm of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “skies of couple-colour” and “rose moles all in stipple.” The world here evoked is luminous, bright, and the act of witness is an act of celebration. Colors laid down on the canvas are some of Kahn’s signature colors: purple, alizarin crimson, lemon yellow, phthalo green.

The painter’s shock of hair is white, his eyes are a bright blue. Trim yet sturdy, eighty-five, he wears faded blue jeans and an old plaid shirt “I like the bottom left of this painting,” he says, “the bottom right needs work. But nature in general is quite generous in providing material for one’s imagination; I will return to it later, when you go.”

Seven years later and after his death, a black-rimmed condolence card seems no more appropriate now than then. An exuberant artist, this master of shape and color always had “a good relation with black.” So I, along with legions, mourn him—but I also want to celebrate his life-long act of witness and (to borrow a phrase applied to a predecessor) flat-out “Lust for Life.”

(From BrooklynRail June 2020)

Wolf Kahn was a German-born American painter. Kahn, known for his combination of Realism and Color Field, worked in pastel, oil paint, and printmaking. He studied under Hans Hofmann, and also graduated from the University of Chicago.

Top Artist Profiles: Jennifer McChristian – “Nostalgia And Harmony”

Artist Jennifer McChristianAward winning artist, Jennifer McChristian, was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be an artist. Upon completing high school, McChristian began her art education at Dawson’s College in Montreal, Canada. In 1986, she and her family took permanent residency in California, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree with Honors from Otis Art Institute in 1990.

Uncommon Ground - Art Book - Jennifer McChristian
Buy her book “Uncommon Ground”

Her inspirations consist of notable artists such as John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Nicolai Fechin and Cecilia Beaux. McChristian primarily paints in oils and occasionally watercolors and gouache. She has an affinity for painting ‘en plein air’ and also enjoys creating studio works using her outdoor sketches as inspiration. “Painting is somewhat of a spiritual experience for me. Although challenging at times, the end result evokes within me a sense of elation, nostalgia and harmony”.

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Video Profiles: British Artist Jonathan Yeo – “FaceTime Portraits”

Since lockdown started in the UK, British artist Jonathan Yeo began a ‘FaceTime Portraits’ series where sittings have been filmed by his household, offering viewers a live glimpse into his portrait painting process.

Here he tells us about the pros and cons of painting faces by digital means and how he sees the future of portraiture as technologies continue to evolve.

Jonathan Yeo is a British artist who rose to international prominence in his early 20s as a contemporary portraitist, having painted Kevin Spacey, Dennis Hopper, Cara Delevingne, Damien Hirst, Prince Philip, Erin O’Connor, Tony Blair, and David Cameron among others.

Top American Painters: Watercolorist Tim Oliver – “Sketchy Landscapes”

As with all artists, my style is constantly evolving but presently I describe my style as “sloppy representationalism”.  I paint in a representational style with a “sketchy” quality to it. It seems to fit me.  I’m passionate about interpreting and communicating the character and the emotion of places in my work. 

Bowen Ranch Goat Pens - Tim Oliver

Tim Oliver Watercolors Paintings

Tim Oliver - ArtistWatercolor, in a practiced hand, is the perfect medium for capturing the powerful emotion of a place.  While I paint a variety of subjects, I’m most attracted to landscapes that stir passion within me in the moment.  I’m always drawn to things western, rural, gritty and seemingly mundane or ordinary. Anything evocative of a ‘time long passed by’ will always capture my attention.

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20th Century Art: Female Artists Highlight “Ginny Williams” Collection

As an early patron and friend of artists including Louise Bourgoeis, Ann Hamilton and Lee Krasner, Ginny Williams was revered for her pioneering support. “Ginny saw the Art World as this wonderful and diverse ecosystem, and she loved all parts of it” Sotheby’s Chariman Amy Cappallazzo fondly recalls, “she had a tremendously rich relationship with so many artists”.

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