Arturo Herrera

Arturo is a Venezuelan artist that is know for his melding of collage and cartoons.  Below are a few examples of his work.

Although the concept seems interesting, this first piece by Herrera makes no sense to me.  All the pieces just seem to be everywhere with no central them of concept.  I feel as though he just cut up a bunch of different pieces with no similar concept and glued them on top of each other.  I can't even tell what many of the pieces are such as the big brown blog that is covering a good portion of Tweety.

I found this second piece by Herrera to not be as crazy and chaotic as the first.  The cartoon cut out in this piece looks like Pinnochio and Giuseppe except that Giuseppe is placed on the piece with no face.  I like that the artist stuck with the concept of putting the characters in something liquid instead of something that wouldn't really make sense.  I also like that the characters are in a simple black and off white and the background is much more colorful.

I like this last piece by Herrera a lot more than the other two.  Although I couldn't really tell you the theme of the picture.  The pieces seem to go together much more nicer.  The background of the outdoors and what looks like a pathway is nicely done and the objects that are glued on top of each other in the center give it that nice modern touch.

Dominic McGill

Dominic McGill is an interesting artist.  His work doesn't seem to be different pictures of faces or landscapes drawn together but rather many different strong words and phrases that give off a controversial theme of both the present and the past.

 

This first piece by McGill looks like pure chaos.  Most of what is in this piece is different phrases that seems that it would be too time consuming for one to actually read and understand what the artist is actually trying to tell.  I do however like the different old fashion faces placed sporadically throughout the piece.  Some of the words seem to be backwards as well, which I don't quite understand.

This piece by Dominic makes a little more sense to me.  It has more of theme about race and color and seems to show words that would represent different cultures and their controversies around the world.  I also like that the piece was placed on a wall rather than just on a piece of paper framed and placed on the wall.

This last piece by Mcgill also seems like a very controversial one that may also be about race.  Some of the images and words are really extreme and graphic.  The unusual and disturbing pictures of the pig and human like characters really bother me.  I'm trying to understand the overall theme and message that the artist is trying to tell but I can't really say I can.  I see the word black a lot but some of the words around it don't really make sense to me.

Bjorn Hegardt

Bjorn Hegardt is a Norwegian/Swedish contemporary artist that works with drawing, installation and photography.  His work really stood out to me and found it to be really unique and different from anything else I've ever seen.

This first piece by Hegardt shows really good use of line.  It looks as though the piece is one continuous line that never ends.  I like the way he made the head of the animal a chandelier that had a number of curves and look like they weave in and out of each other.  I like that the artist only used black and white but I think it would make it really interesting to see it different types of color. 

This second piece by Hegardt has to be my favorite.  I feel like you could look at it in so many different perspectives.  One way looks as if the room is floating in space without a floor or another way you could look at it is that the floor of the room looks like the night sky.  Either way you want to look at it makes it a cool drawing.  Bjorn is really good at using line and this is one great example.  The furniture and windows are so precise and perfected.

This last piece by Bjorn is slightly more simply yet very different from the other two pieces.  To most viewing this piece, it looks like the windows are kind of going around in a circle and traveling from the wall onto the floor.  I think it was a cool idea but I don't really understand its concept.  This piece is a little more boring to me than the other two.

Sandra Cinto

When searching for Sandra Cinto, I found many of her pieces to be very different but there were definitely a few pieces that had their similarities.  Some of these pieces are shown below.

This first piece by Sandra was one of the first few pieces that really stood out to me.  I like the way she used detailing lining and how you made some lines closer to each to make them seem thicker than others.  Some of the lines gave interesting shapes and curves which definitely made the picture.  I also really like the way she put in the starry and bright shapes to make the picture stand out.

 This second piece by Sandra also made me intrigued with the amount of detail put in the form of different shapes.  She used lines of all different colors and thickness and definitely put in more curves into this picture than the first piece I chose.  This picture looks somewhat of a landscape with the curves making the shapes of waves with a background of blue mountains.

This last piece by Cinto has to be my favorite.  It has a wintery feeling with the blue and white colors. The star shaped snowflakes are of all different sizes and shapes as snowflakes should be.  Her use of line is so well detailed and lovely to look at.

Steven Shearer

Steven Shearer is a contemporary artist that displays a lot of his work through photography, drawings and paintings that tend to focus on youth, aggression and have a heavy metal feelings to them.  These three pieces of work below clearly show Shearer's focus and the theme in which he depicts.

This first piece by Shearer seems to be a painting that consists of a lot of bright and beautiful colors.  I really like the blues, greens and browns that Shearer uses in what looks like a seat or cushion in which the heavy metal character is seated.  The picture gives off a very somber and sad feeling with the young man hunched over with all his hair covering his face.  Shearer also does a really nice job shadowing in the picture.  Everything from the skin, body parts and hair of the man looks very realistic.  

This second piece by Shearer is really nicely done.  It looks as though it is a drawing that uses the texture technique that we have learned in class.  It looks as though streaks and lines are placed into the picture to add texture to the hair and body parts of a the young woman.  I also really like how realistic her eyes look which really make her stand out.  However, my favorite part of her has to be the way Shearer uses different colors to complete her flowing hair. 

This final piece by Shearer has to be the most interesting one to me.  Not only do I love that it is in black and wait but I love the focus placed on the individuals hair.  Personally, when I try to draw a person's hair, all it every seems to look like is a bunch of spaghetti.  Shearer seems to make it so simple as if he draws every single strand individually.  I really like the shine and shadows placed in the hair to make different areas and parts stand out from the rest.

Zak Smith

Zak Smith is an American artist and interestingly enough also an alternative porn star.  Most of his work is done in acrylic and ink.  His pieces of work have a very comic look and seem to show many similar characters.  The pieces of work are done mostly in black and white with a touch of color.

This first piece of work by Zak Smith shows a young girl with a punk rock image sitting on the floor of a  sloppy room.  I really like the small hints of color that Zak places into the picture.  Besides the girl, everything in the picture seems disoriented and like it was drawn carelessly.  There doesn't look like there is one straight line in the picture.  Everything has some type of jagged edge or curve too it, which makes the picture look a lot more funky.

This second piece by Zak Smith has a similar theme to the first piece.  It is another young girl with a punk like image, sitting in what looks like a room or office full of chaos.  My favorite part of this piece has to be the hint of purple that Smith places in the girl's interesting hair style.  It makes her stand out from everything else going on in the picture.  You can tell that the room is a really big mess and you literally can't see the floor itself.  I also really like the different shades of black and white that the artist used on all the objects surrounding the girl.

This last and final piece I chose by Smith has to be my favorite.  It is similar to the other two but I like that the girl stands out in the picture much more and that Smith uses a lot more color in this piece.  She also has a punk rock look to her like the other two girls.  I like her blue stockings and the way that they match her blue hair.  Her face also has some interesting shapes near her chin and neck.  They seem to look like different rectangles with different shades of black and grey. 

Dr. Lakra

Dr Lakra, also known as Jeronimo Lopez Ramirez, is a tattoo artist born in Mexico.  He takes different objects such as old Mexican magazines and dolls to display his work.  This makes him different and unique from all different types of artists. 

This first piece by Dr Lakra, is a doll that contains all different types of work by Lakra.  The doll is completely covered in all types of figures and drawings. Some of the images that can clearly be seen are the large skull at the center of her stomach and a face right above the right breast.  I find this doll to be very unique and interesting.  I also really like that Lakra did all the tattoos in blue ink.

This second piece of work by Dr Lakra, is different in that Lakra uses a picture from a Mexican magazine.  The Mexican magazine picture alone is interesting alone without the excess amount of tattoos that Lakra has placed on the naked bride.  The theme that Lakra seems to have placed on the bride are a numerous amount of snakes placed all over her body.  There is not one spot on the body that isn't covered.  The snakes are very well done and contain very unique designs.

This last piece by Dr. Lakra is by far my favorite.  I like that he used this tiny, childish doll to decorate with his work.  The designs that he chose to cover the body with are beautifully done with different shapes and sizes.  I also find it rather amusing that he uses a child's doll and that he even covered the dolls face something that you may thing a young toddler would do.

Ernesto Caivano

Ernesto Caivano, an artist born in Madrid, Spain uses very detailed work in the three drawings below.  A similar theme of birds and wings seems to be very common in the drawings.  He seems to especially like doing a lot of detailed work in the wings with all types of shapes and designs.

 This first drawing by Ernesto, has a very pretty and large bird with some small branches along the bottom.  My favorite part of the drawing are the wings and how much small and beautiful detail there is. I like how the artist shaped the wings in a way that shows the movement of the bird in flight.  Another thing that I like that Ernesto does is make his paintings in black and white.

This second painting by Ernesto, is another drawing that has 2 different, beautifully done birds that are similar yet different in the shapes and designs along the wings.  The bird on the left seems to have fewer designs and shapes within its wings then the bird on the left.  I like that Ernesto could use almost any shape and design and place it on the bird and still make the bird look realistic.  Ernesto also placed a very interesting young girl in this drawing that seems to be admiring the beauty of the two birds.

This final piece of work by Ernesto is slightly different from the other two.  Although you can tell that there is a bird placed behind a beautiful flower, you can't really see its face but you can definitely see its detailed wings.  I like that you can see the way Ernesto does other pieces in his work other than birds.  I really like the large flower in front of the bird along with the realistic branches surrounding the bird.

Robin Rhode

Robin Rhode is a South African artist who creates creative art using simple objects and shapes.  When I first came along Robin Rhode, I found it very interesting that he uses very simple tools such as chalk to create his masterpieces.  I also found it rather interesting that he incorporated actual human beings to his pieces of work to complete his pieces.  Below are some of the few pieces that I really liked by Rhode.

This piece called Table Tennis by Robin Rhode, had to be my favorite of the three.  Although it seems like a simple painting of a ping pong table on a plain black wall, I really liked that there was a type of movement shown in the ball which made it more realistic.  The table even seems to look three dimensional, as if it was a real table.  Although it seems like there is paint dripping from the edges of the table, I like that the piece is simlple and unique.  I also really like that Rhode put in the young man to make it seem like he was part of an actual game.

This second piece by Robin Rhode, called Juggla, is also a piece of art that Rhode placed on a plain wall.  This actual piece also seems like it couldn't be complete without an actual human being placed into it.  Rhode placed the human being outside the wall, but he isn't actually juggling real balls.  The balls are the piece of work that are placed on the wall, yet show so much motion that they seem realistic.

I chose this third piece by Rhode, called Skateboard because the artist put three different images to show the image and different motions and movement of the skateboard.  Once again, the human is part of the art and placed over the drawn skateboard to make it seem more realistic, as if the skateboard was real.  As the images progress, it seems like the skateboard is experiencing more motion and speed.



Gabriel Orozco

Gabriel Orozco is a Mexican artist and is considered to be “one of the most influential artists of this decade.” Gabriel Orozco is a unique artist that seems to love taking unique shapes and objects and creating an interesting piece of work.

In this first piece by Orozco, he uses the shapes of hexagons that form an extended looking soccer ball.  I really like this piece of work because its different from anything I have ever seen.  I’m not sure where his viewpoint actually comes from but I like that he changes the ordinary.  Soccer is also my favorite sport so this really stood out to me.

In Orozco’s piece, called Black Kites, he uses the shapes of black diamonds and squares placed all overall a human skull.  To many, a human skull may look gross or scare certain people but the black squares and diamonds make the piece of work fun and playful.  It looks as though this skull good be used at a playhouse or circus.

This last piece by Orozco is my favorite.  It is an actually car that is taken apart in thousands of pieces.  The pieces look as though they are floating freely in thin air but if you look hard enough you can see the millions of pieces of string used to hold all this different pieces.  With the pieces all taken apart, you can notice all the unique shapes of different sizes.  It is absolutely incredible.

Graham Little

This week's post is about British artist Graham Little.  The three pictures posted below are all done by him and all seem to have a very common, realistic theme.  Most of his work, also seemed to be portraits of young beautiful women.

 This first picture done by Little is of a young edgy beautiful woman.  The young woman shown in the picture seems to have the personality of both the tough and seductive girl.  I like the colors and shades that Little uses and how realistic he makes the woman look.  The young girl looks as though she could be a model posing for a photograph for a magazine or ad.

The two pictures above, done by Graham, seem to have the same girl or two girls that look very alike.  Both of the pictures have a very soft and angelic feel opposed to the first picture. I really like the picture of the girl in the green dress.  She seems to have a younger face, yet still gives a very seductive look.  Graham did a great job in making her body features stand out and look so real.  He used great colors and shading in both the body parts and face to make the picture look as it could be a real photograph of a real girl.  The last picture with the girl in the white and pink dress is very similar to the second picture.  It looks as though the artist used the same shades and colors to make the young girl stand out.  I really like the pose that the girl is making and how well Little made her hair look so natural and real.  The one thing I don't like about this picture is that the girl seems to be in a sitting position, yet there is nothing under her.  It makes the picture look awkward and incomplete. Again this picture looks like it could be a photograph of a real model.

Marcel Dzama

     Marcel Dzama is a contemporary artist that lives in New York and seems to be a very unusual artist in his own way.  The three paintings seen below seem to have a common theme of interesting characters performing disturbing actions.

      This first painting by Dzama shows a disturbing image of a women shooting of what looks like a wolf.  Surrounded by the helpless animal are a reindeer and a monkey with wings.  I'm not exactly sure what this picture may be depicting but my guess is that "the good" is enjoying watching "the bad"suffer.  The plain white background adds to the coldness of the picture.

      This second image called "Tree with Roots" has many different individuals, both surrounding and in the tree.  Its unusual that the only individuals that are shot and dead by the arrows are men, except for the large head of a man that seems to be worshiped at the top of the tree.  The spooky tree that has a scary face with two legs is also very disturbing.  Maybe this picture is giving off the theme of female power.

     This last picture called "The Last Winter," again has the same unusual characters.  One of the characters seem to be lying dead with only half his body, while another is being hung from the air. Like the other two images, the picture doesn't seem to show much color and gives off a disturbing vibe.  It is rather hard to understand what theme is given off this picture if there even is one. 
     Marcel Dzama definitely has his own taste in what he likes to draw.  Although all these pictures are very interesting and share a similar theme.  They are very gruesome and uncomfortable to look at it.  I would definitely not want one of his paintings lying somewhere around my house.  

Vik Muniz

      When I first searched Vik Muniz, I learned that he wasn't a drawing artist but more of a visual artist.He used unsually products to replicate different These following pieces were the ones that had really stuck out to me.  

      This first image shows two different pieces of work based on only one.  The first picture is a cover of a Goya Painting called Saturn Devouring Son (the second picture).  The whole image was made by using different kinds of trash a junk.  This cover absolutely amazes me on how accurate Muniz was in replicating the painting.  The fact that he was able to find so many different objects that could actually give off such an image is so interesting to me.  My favorite part of Muniz's cover has to be the face of what looks like a giant monster.  The eyes stand out the most with the objects he had used.

      This second image has to be made my favorite piece of work by Muniz.  In this piece of work he took Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and made one image out of peanut butter and one image out of jelly.  This is absolutely incredible.  For many artists, it may seem almost impossible to even draw or paint the Mona Lisa with the usual utensils.  However, Muniz was able to make such accurate and amazing replicates.  I like that he is able to use different objects other than paint and pencils in his art.  It makes the art more interesting and fun to look at.

       This final piece of work by Muniz is made by our everyday food of spaghetti.  This piece of art is suppose to depict the famous Medusa.  It is so amazing how real the face of Medusa really looks and how clever it was of Muniz to use the spaghetti to depict her crazy snake hair.  The eyes and mouth look so clear and real.
      Vik Muniz is a very unique and interesting artist.  I like that all his work is somewhat different, yet each holds the similarity of being made by odd objects such as food or trash.