Scott Naismith
Contemporary landscape artist:
Some of my favourite artists...
I personally love Scott Naismith's work because he has such a unique style. I love the way that he uses colours to recreate the bright energy and feel to the countryside. His work is very focused on his Scottish origin as he likes to paints Scottish landscapes that he has seen as he was born in Glasgow. He does a mix of painting and using a palette knife to create some softer areas of the image such as the clouds, sky and water, but uses a palette knife to create more definite and harsh lines which he usually uses to create rocks and outlines. Another thing I like about his work that it is normally quite bright but also uses quite muted colours in some areas to create a softer and more calming effect for example: the water in most of his art work uses more whites, blues, light pinks and oranges which creates the effect of a more peaceful and relaxing scenery. He has a degree in illustration and print making but is currently working as a full time artist and has been quite successful in doing so, this is another thing I like about him and his work as he is quite versatile with what he does with his talent and creativity.
Lee Jeffreies
Contemporary street photographer:
Lee Jeffries is a photographer that takes photographs of homeless people. He is a fully self taught photographer, he originally started out taking pictures at sports events as that was what he most interested about. One day he was out with a long- lens and took a picture of a homeless, that was cold and huddled up under a doorway of a shop. After he took the photo the girl had seen him and he went over to apologise. This is where his passion for spreading awareness for homelessness and their stories, he did this on social media. By doing this it almost forces people to see the seriousness of homelessness all around the world. His main goal is to get funding for charity's that help the homeless and has done this with many big charities such as salvation army and has given thousands of his own money to the homeless. I like Jeffries work as we see the harsh reality of what the state of the world really is, even if we don't always see. He gives us no option but to see what he does before he gets to know these people. Overall the dramatic and intense black and white edits of his work is really impactful to the viewer and is actively helping with homelessness that is a massive issue all over the world. He actively documents history and the state of the world which is something I find important in my own work to.
Molly Crabapple
Artist, writer and author:
Molly Crabapple does many different types of work, she is also known well for her writing. She has written articles for vice, CNN, New York Times and many more. As she had these opportunity she uses her art to raise awareness. the thing i like most about her and her work is that it is based off of actual real life issues and she makes the dangerous decisions to actually go and see the issues first hand. For example, she has been into ISIS territories to document the issues and sadness that surround Syrian refugees. She has also visited Quantanamo bay a couple of times and highlighted some of the terrible conditions and procedures that happen in the building and many more issues she has raised about America ( where she was born). Overall the thing i like most about her work is not only her illustrative style but as the fact that she's not afraid to go and actually see the issues she's fighting for (no matter what danger it puts her). People forget about the issues in the world if they are on the news being reported in a monotone voice along with other stories. Crabapple has found a way to captivate and excite her viewers with her writing, work and speeches to remember because they are so visually appealing and we know that its coming straight from the source of the problem and we know she really cares about these issues.
William Hogarth
Painter, Printmaker and Editorial Cartoonist:
William Hogarth was born in 1697 in London into a lower-class family. He is a very talented painter but these examples above are for his engravings and etchings. I especially like the 2 piece set of 'Beer street' and 'Gin lane'. This is because it reflects Hogarth's past and what he would have seen when he growing up in London. He highlighted some of the big issues such as drinking and prostitution. His aim was to paint history and he wanted to inspire change to the world. The thing I liked most about Hogarth and his work is the fact that he was an independent artist, when some of his work was copied he even though for more control over his work and made the 'engravers copyright act' ( that was known as 'Hogarth's act' and this eventually became the law. Overall the amount of care and passion he put into his really showed by the amount of changed and following he had. The realism style of his work highlights that these issues where real and still happening in the world around him. Overall I love not only the subject matter of Hogarth's work but also the realism style of his pieces.
Leonid Afremov
Painter:
Leonid Afremov art style is very much modern impressionistic, he uses oil paints and a palette knife to create this effect. This is one of the things I like most about his work as by using the palette knife it creates a more textures and layered effect.. I also love his use of colours and the effect that gives off. For example, when using the colour yellow and white he creates a more soft and calming effect or to make it look like there is lights on. His paintings are almost like rainbows, but he places the colours specifically to still make the piece look interesting but realistic. This essentially allows us to see the world from a different prospective as when we walk down the street at night we don't normally stop to appreciate the beauty of the streetlights, shops and building as the world is more fast paced. I think his art really captures the beauty in everyday life.
John Piper
Painter, printmaker and stainglass windows:
I like John Pipers work because of the flowy and free feel that they have to them. He normally keeps to quite a dulled down blue, grey and yellow theme. This works really well in my opinion as he manages to create many different tones of the same colour ( some darker, some lighter) .This allows him to create the depth and detail that he wants. Another thing I like about john Pipers work is the subject matter. He normally paints lots of different churches, I love the idea of his paintings of the church as he is capturing the history of the building in his own personal style. The thing I like the most about his work is how abstract and free the backgrounds from the sky is. This draws the viewers attention to the top of the page ( which in-turn leaves the viewer eye towards the main focus which is the building. I think that these backgrounds create more a hectic and rough feel to some of his work and i think this really suits him as it matches his style. Overall I like how he capture the building how it is at the time and the history there is in them and this really works in his more abstracted/ flowy style.
Ian Berry
Works with denim:
This is Ian Berry. He uses denim to create photorealistic images. I love the way he does this and most of his work actually look like a photograph. I like the way he uses lighter shades to create highlights and and darker shades to create depth and shadows. He not only does this but also focuses on sizes of the pieces of denim. Some of the pieces he uses he cuts to be really small to add detail to the piece and others are larger and used as bases . The thing I like most about his work is his attention to detail as he must sit for hours organising and cutting different types and shades of denim. I also like the fact that (in these three example pictures particularly) the blue shades of the denim create quiet a sad atmosphere and gives the viewer the sense of the characters sadness, it almost makes the image feel quite isolating as he only includes one person . Overall the reason i love his work is because he uses the material so well and to his advantage. Most people would look at denim and think that there is nothing you can do with it but he found a way he could really use it to create beautiful pieces of work. I want to experiment with different materials
Francis Bacon
Painter:
Francis Bacon was known for his figurative art. He always liked to distort the people he was painting. His earlier work he used to use smeared violent colours and his later work became more detailed as he started using photography and videos as references. He also decided to use lighter colours whilst depicting the human body with more distortion and contortion. He took lots of inspiration (especially in his earlier work) from other artist, such as Picasso. Overall one thing I like about his work is his colour palette. Although his first works used more stronger colours I feel like his use of darker colours in his backgrounds and outlines really create a more unsettling feeling to some of his work which i think works really well. I also like his distortion of the human body as although the faces are abstracted we can still tell what he is trying to depict and I think his stylised representation of humans is very interesting.