English-Canadian concept artist Keith Thompson studied illustration at Sheridan College near Toronto and has worked on films such as Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and games like Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines. He has illustrated books including Scott Westerfeld’s New York Times bestselling young adult novel Leviathan and Darkwing (Silverwing) by Kenneth Oppel.

Thompson creates his work using black colerase pencil on 110lb paper which he then scans and glazes using soft light layers in Photoshop. Most of his pieces come with their own story.

To see more, visit KeithThompsonArt.com.

Braque grew up in Le Havre and, following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, trained to be a house painter and decorator. He studied in Paris under a master decorator and received his craftsman certificate in 1901. In the evenings, he studied painting at the École des Beaux-Arts from 1897-1899.  He studied painting at the Académie Humbert in Paris from 1902-04.

Braque’s first works were Impressionist but by 1906 was painting in a Fauvist style, successfully exhibiting that year in the Salon des Indépendants. Braque met Pablo Picasso in 1907.  Both artists were influenced by Paul Cézanne’s use of geometry in depicting his subjects in his work . Cézanne’s paintings greatly impacted the direction of the Paris avant-garde, and soon after, Cubism.

From 1909 Braque and Picasso worked together daily to develop Cubism. By 1911 their styles were extremely similar and during this time, it was virtually  impossible to distinguish one from the other.  In 1912, the duo began to incorporate elements of collage into their paintings and to experiment with the papier collé (pasted paper) technique.

From about 1911, Braque began experimenting with other media and techniques, as well as new canvas shapes. He began mixing paint with sand  used a house-painter’s comb to introduce areas of imitation wood-grain into his paintings. In 1912, Braque married  Marcelle Lapre and rented a house at Sorgues, near Avignon. There, he and Picasso began using pre-existing objects and materials in their paintings.

Braque and Picasso’s artistic collaboration lasted until 1914 when Braque served in the French Army during World War I. He was wounded in the war and temporarily blinded in 1915, but resumed painting in 1916. During his recovery in 1917, Braque began a close friendship with the Spanish artist Juan Gris who was also closely associated with the Cubist movement.

In the 1920s, Braque returned to a more “realistic interpretation of nature, although certain aspects of Cubism always remained present in his work.” He painted landscapes and reintroduced the figure into his work which was characterized by bold color and textured surfaces. In the mid-1920s Braque also designed the decor for two Sergei Diaghilev ballets.

In 1931 Braque made his first engraved plasters and began to portray mythological subjects. His first retrospective was held in 1933 at the Kunsthalle Basel.  In 1937,  he won first prize at the Carnegie International, in Pittsburgh.

From about 1936,  Braque’s paintings shifted again from the still-life to wider interior views. “Into ornately decorated rooms he introduced impersonal, flattened figures, such as in Woman with Mandolin or The Duet. The new mood suggested by his use of brighter colours was offset, however, by a series of macabre vanitas still-lifes, linked to the theme of the artist’s studio, that he began in 1938, possibly in despair at the approach of World War II. He also built a sculpture studio near his house at Varengeville and began experimenting with sculpture about this time, producing simple and playful, if rather two-dimensional works.

During World War II Braque remained in Paris. He painted mainly still lifes and interiors that were stark and sombre in colour. During this time, Braque also made lithographs, engravings, and sculptures.

In 1954, Braque designed stained-glass windows for the church of Varengeville. During the last few years of his life, Braque’s poor health prevented him taking on any large-scale work, but he continued to paint, make lithographs, and design jewelry.

Georges Braque died on August 31, 1963, in Paris. He is buried in the church cemetery in Saint-Marguerite-sur-Mer, Normandy, France.

Related Books:
Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism
Georges Braque: A Life
Braque (Great Modern Masters)

Sources: Guggenheim, MoMA

More great work from Fernando Hereñú (AKA Pulpo). Born in 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pulpo is known for his complex composition and a surrealistic style.  Pulpo completed his graphic design studies at the University of Buenos Aires in 2002 and currently works as an illustrator and as the creative director (and partner) of an online games company.

To see more of Pulpo’s work, visit his photostream on Flickr.

]]> http://www.dailyartfixx.com/2012/05/12/fernando-herenu-illustration/feed/ 0 http://www.dailyartfixx.com/2012/05/11/salvador-dali-1904-1989/ http://www.dailyartfixx.com/2012/05/11/salvador-dali-1904-1989/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 14:00:38 +0000 Wendy Campbell http://www.dailyartfixx.com/?p=16853 Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquis of Dalí de Púbol was born on May 11, 1904 in Figueres, Spain near the French border.  A painter, draughtsman, illustrator, sculptor, writer and film maker, Dali was one of the most prolific, flamboyant, and well known artists of the 20th century.

He was a student at the San Fernando Academy of fine Arts in Madrid but was expelled for encouraging students to rebel and for withdrawing from an exam because he said the teachers were not qualified to judge his work.

Dali quickly gained recognition in 1925 after a solo show in Barcelona, in 1928 when his works were shown at the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh, and in 1929 when he held his first solo show in Paris.  It was at this time that Dali joined the ranks of the surrealists and met his future wife, Gala Eluard.

“The Persistence of Memory” was painted in 1931 after seeing some Camembert cheese melting in the heat on a hot summer day. Later that night, he dreamt of clocks melting on a landscape.  The small work (24 cm x 33 cm) is one of the most famous of the surrealist paintings. During this time and inspired by Freud, Dali used his “paranoiac-critical method” to create his art.

During the 1930s Dalí’s political indifference alienated him from the other Surrealists who were mainly leftist. In 1937 he painted an unusual series of Adolf Hitler that were considered to be in bad taste and partly led to his expulsion from the movement.

Salvador and Gala spent World War II in the United States, where he became a popular figure. He painted portraits, dressed shop windows, created a dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Spellbound” and created a cartoon, “Destino”, with Walt Disney.

Dalí returned to Europe in 1948 and was completely disconnected from Surrealism. He painted mainly in Spain, with an eclectic approach focusing on history, religion, and science.  Dalí created over 1,500 paintings in his career as well as illustrations for books, lithographs, designs for theatre sets and costumes, numerous drawings,  sculptures, and various other projects.

Dali was greatly affected by the death of his wife Gala in 1982. After that time, he lost much of his passion for life, his health began to fail, and he painted very little.  On January 23, 1989, at the age of 84, Salvador Dali died from heart failure with respiratory complications. He is buried in his Theater Museum in Figueres.

For a full biography of Salvador Dali, see the source links below.

Sources: MOMA, Salvador Dali Museum, Wikipedia

Salvador Dali on Amazon.com

“I knew that if I finished, I would never make art” is how Gustlin explains leaving college one semester short of a degree in computer science and mathematics to attend the Academy of Art College, San Francisco. After completing her BFA, Jylian fused her understanding of computers and her passion for art to became a graphics programmer for Apple Computer, Inc. Now, Jylian uniquely combines the effects of modern technology with traditional techniques. While painting in acrylic and oil paints, her artwork often conveys the same complex layered effects possible in computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Just as she challenged the creative limitations of the latest computer software, Gustlin experiments with a variety of materials to discover their effects. Working with two-part epoxy resin, oil and acrylic paints, charcoal, wax, gold leaf, pastel and graphite on board, Gustlin draws, paints, scratches on her surfaces.

Figures have always been an important part of Gustlin’s work. Her characters are frequently set in an alien-like landscape, moody and brooding, yet at the same time, depicting a sense of future. For the last several years, Jylian has been working on a series of paintings, related to the  Fibonacci mathematical theory which is based on the numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so on.  Fibonacci mathematical calculations create rectangles and shell spirals based on the incrementally increasing numbers. She is also exploring the relationship of Fibonacci numbers to the petals on flowers and how to use these ideas in paintings as well as the relationship of Fibonacci to musical scales and the 5-tone scale, 8-tone scale, and 13-tone scale. She continues to explore science and mathematics and how it intersects with the arts. (bio from Jylian Gustlin.com)

To see more, visit Jylian Gustlin.com.

As members of TATS CRU, the Perre twins have lectured at universities including M.I.T. and their work has appeared in numerous films, music videos, documentaries, and most recently, the windows of the historic department store, Lord and Taylor.

HOW and NOSM have been featured within the pages of numerous publications, including the New York Times and the New Yorker, and even stirred the likes of the Rev. Al Sharpton with the controversial undertones of subjects manifested within their art. As adept with a spray can as only few artists could ever hope to be with a brush, and best known for their medium, Perre’s body of work includes everything from skateboards and collectible toys to large scale multimedia sculpture – and for that matter, anything they can get their hands on. (bio from artist’s website)

To learn more about HOW and NOSM, visit HowNosm.org or check out their photostream on Flickr.

Jamie says of his working process; “The most important part of the artistic process for me is the initial idea behind the work. If it isn`t as strong as possible, then the lengthy process of sculpting, molding, painting etc, no matter how well done, will be for nothing and the work will fall flat.

I want to make something that tells a story or moves people in some sort of way, not something that just looks very real. Of course, I need my works to have a certain degree of reality about them, but it`s more of a heightened reality. This is also why I like to play with scale in a lot of my works as well. I think it is something that catches people off guard and forces them to confront their ideas about reality, and to also think about the idea behind the work more deeply. Maybe more so than they would do if the piece were just life size.

I think hyper-realist art too often tries to reach what is ultimately an unattainable level of perfection. That should not be the goal with it anyway.

At the end of the day, I hope that my works contain meaning and convey a real sense of emotion as well. And if they also take people by surprise and affect them on perhaps an unexpected level, I really feel I`ve succeeded”. (bio from Avatar Sculpture Works)

To see more, visit AvatarSculptureWorks.com

In 1905, Kirchner, along with several other students, formed Die Brücke (The Bridge) as an opposition to the academic art that they encountered. From 1905 to 1910 Kirchner was influenced by the works of, Matisse van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, and Edvard Munch, as well as Japanese prints and African and Oceanic art.  “Kirchner himself denied the influence of any other artist on his development and took great pains to prove the contrary. He claimed that his work was not connected with that of Edvard Munch and Henri Matisse in particular, who were frequently linked with him by critics. He later dated many of his paintings and drawings from the years between 1908 and 1911 to before 1905, and in his chronicle and his notebooks he moved the date of foundation of Die Brücke to 1902, as evidence that their works were precursors of the Fauvist paintings of Matisse.”

Kirchner moved to Berlin with the Brücke group in 1911.  In 1913, Kirchner wrote Chronik der Brücke (Brücke chronicle), which led to the ending of the group. Thereafter, his relationship with the former members was strained and stronly rejected any links between his art and the Die Brücke group.

From 1913 and 1917 Kirchner experienced a high point in his career.  “The theme of the human being in the large city took on greater importance for Kirchner in his new environment. In particular, from 1913 to 1915 he produced his series of 14 street scenes. They represent a new picture type, in which the meeting of men and women, cocottes and their beaux, in the anonymous bustle of the city street is invested with extreme erotic tension.”  In 1913 Kirchner exhibited in the Armory Show in New York, and had his first solo shows in Germany at the Museum Folkwang Hagen, and the Galerie Gurlitt, Berlin.

Kirchner joined the German army at the beginning of World War I, but suffered a nervous breakdown and was discharged in 1915. In 1918, he moved to Davos, Switzerland, living in a farmhouse in the Alps.  Despite ill health, he continued to produce major paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture. Through the 1920s, major exhibitions of his work were held in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden, and other cities.

Between 1925 and 1929 Kirchner made several trips to Germany, wanting recognition of his artistic importance in his native country.  Between 1927 and 1934 Kirchner designed unexecuted murals for the Museum Folkwang Festival Hall project.  In 1931 he was admitted to the Preussische Akademie der Künste in Berlin. By this time, all of the important museums of modern art in Germany had acquired his works.

The National Socialists in Germany put an end to Kirchner’s official recognition. In the campaign of 1937 against so-called entartete Kunst (degenerate art), more than 600 of his works were confiscated from German museums and were either destroyed or sold. In that same year the Berlin Academy of Arts demanded his resignation.

The combination of official rejection in Germany and other illnesses,  resulted in his suicide. On June 15, 1938, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner shot himself in front of his house near Frauenkirch.

Kirchner’s works are held in major museums and galleries around the world. In November 2006 at Christie’s, Kirchner’s Street Scene, Berlin  (shown below) sold for a record $38 million.

Sources: National Gallery of Art, Wikipedia, Guggenheim, MoMA

Robert Lang merges mathematics with aesthetics to fold elegant modern origami. His scientific approach helps him make folds once thought impossible — and has secured his place as one of the first great Western masters of the art.

For more information about Robert Lang visit LangOrigami.com.

Guillermo Rigattieri was born on August 18, 1976 in San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina where he continues to live and work.  His sculptures are in the private collections around the world including Spain, Italy, Chile, United States of America, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, Brazil, Africa, Canada, France, England, Ireland and Argentina. Rigattieri has received numerous awards and mentions, among them first prize from Salón Vendimia in 2oo4 in Mendoza.

In September 2011, Rigattieri will be exhibiting at Device Gallery in San Diego, California in “Creatures of Industry” – a group show with Greg Brotherton, Nemo Gould, and Jeremy Mayer, that explores the relationship between man and machine.

To see more, visit Esculurasenmetal.com.ar.

Images via BestBookmarks.net

Painter Danielle Duer works from her studio in Nashville, Tennessee. She describes her  narrative pieces as manifestations of a romantic walk inside her own head. Duer sees this world and the people in it as “blissful and beautiful but equally heartbroken and sick.” She wants each piece of art to contain all of these Authentic elements of life. She is  interested in human behavior and why we are the way we are,  why we act the way we do, and how it often differs from who we are inside. How do we really feel?  How do we cover this up?  How are we sincere? What is the truth?  Aesthetically, her paintings are illusive but they often symbolize her undying urge to expose our vulnerable hearts and the weapons that guard them, all from a feminine perspective.

To see more, visit DanielleDuer.com.

See more works from this exhibition at Jaski.nl. Learn more about his unique artistic process at ChrisBerens.com.

Yves Klein was born on April 28, 1928 in Nice, France. He had no formal art training though both parents were artists. Between 1948 and 1952, he traveled to Italy, Great Britain, Spain, and Japan where he became a master at judo, achieving a 4th degree black-belt. In 1954, Klein settled in Paris and began his career as an artist.

A student of Eastern religions and Rosicrucianism, Klein’s quest for pure color led him to paint in monochrome. He worked with a chemist to develop his “International Klein Blue” which was made from pure colour pigment and a binding medium.  Klein considered monochrome painting to be an “open window to freedom, and the possibility of being immersed in the immeasurable existence of color.”

Klein’s artistic breakthrough occurred in 1956 when he aroused public debate with the exhibition Yves: Propositions monochromes at the Galerie Colette Allendy in Paris. The exhibition consisted of 20 monochrome surfaces, each a different shade of red, purple, orange, yellow and blue. The French critic Pierre Restany, in his speech at the opening of the exhibition, described Klein’s paintings as ‘single-colour proposals’.

“Klein presented his work in forms that were recognized as art but would then take away the expected content of that form (paintings without pictures, a book without words, a musical composition without in fact composition) leaving only a shell. He wanted his subjects to be represented by their imprint: the image of their absence.” (1)

In 1960, Klein, along with art critic Pierre Restany, and other artists founded the Nouveau Réalisme art movement. Restany wrote the original manifesto for the group, titled the “Constitutive Declaration of New Realism,”  proclaiming, “Nouveau Réalisme – new ways of perceiving the real.”

Klein was a showman and one of his most famous events was the imprinting of paper with naked models smeared with blue paint, as he directed their performance to music. As well as his monochrome works, Klein created sculptures using sea sponges, paintings made with fire, and is well known for his exhibit called The Void, in which he chose to exhibit an empty gallery room, void of everything but a large cabinet.

Klein used two other colours before and after his Blue Period,  yellow/gold and red. These colours represented his ideas of the immaterial. “Gold is the colour of the Absolute, the infinity of (divine) space. Red stands for life, fire and warmth.”

During his brief career, Klein’s body of work was an important precursor to art movements including minimal, conceptual, land and performance art.  Yves Klein died of a heart attack on June 6, 1962 at the height of his career.  He was 34 years old.

Sources: MoMA, Centre Pompidou, Wikipedia, Coskun Fine Art, Hirshorn (images)

Born in 1984 in Sydney Australia, Daniel O’Toole (aka ‘ears’) has a background in graffiti and interest in fine art. Daniel “served time”  at the National Art School in Sydney and has been exhibiting regularly since 2006.

O’Toole is known for his loose and energetic portrait style that plays with the abstract and hints at realism. With influences like Francis Bacon and Brett Whitely he remains diligently focused on the face and as his core subject.

“Painting on a large scale for the most part Daniel uses acrylics shellac and spray paint. The work originates from a technique learned at art school called continuous cross contour line drawing (in street art terms, a one liner). The idea is to loosen up and find your unique mark, and Daniel seems to have discovered an intensely lyrical and feminine mark that sets him apart.”

To see more of O’Toole’s work, visit EarsToTheGroud.net.

Born in Warsaw, Poland,  26 year old Marianna Stelmach (aka Vuzel) is a self taught artist who uses a Pentagram tablet and Photoshop to create her digital paintings. Stelmach graduated from an Arts and Crafts High School where she specialized in Jewelery and is currently studying Physical Therapy.

To see more, visit Stelmach’s profile on Deviant Art.

Found Via: Walking Blind

To see more of Geof Kern, visit GeofKern.com.

In the 1940’s de Kooning participated in group shows with other New York School artists who became known as Abstract Expressionists. From 1950 to 1955, he produced his well-known Women series, “integrating the human form with the aggressive paint application, bold colors, and sweeping strokes of Abstract Expressionism. These female “portraits” provoked not only with their vulgar carnality and garish colors, but also because of their embrace of figural representation, a choice deemed regressive by many of de Kooning’s Abstract Expressionist contemporaries, but one to which he consistently returned for many decades.”

Following the Women series, de Kooning painted abstract urban landscapes, parkways, rural landscapes, and, in the 1960s, a new series of Women. In 1975, after working in sculpture for two years, de Kooning began a new series of dense, richly colored abstractions. “His late work consists of calligraphic, predominantly white canvases that demonstrate the artist’s ultimate synthesis of figuration and abstraction, of painting and drawing, of color and line.”

In 1974 the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, organized a show of de Kooning’s drawings and sculpture that traveled throughout the US. In 1978 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, held an exhibition of his work. In 1979, he  was awarded the Andrew W. Mellon Prize, and an exhibition was held at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.

De Kooning settled in the Springs, East Hampton, Long Island, in 1963. A retrospective of his work was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1997.

De Kooning died on March 19, 1997 in Long Island, New York.  His works are  collected in major museums and galleries all over the world.

Related Books:
Elaine and Bill
Abstract Expressionism
Willem De Kooning: Paintings 1960-1980

Sources: Guggenheim, Wikipedia, NGA