Parece que carecemos de liderazgo…
Bon dia!
#art, A List of Five «Great Living Artists»
This is certainly not a top 5 for me at all, but it is a top 5 according to many sources in the current art world. So, if you ask me if I agree, I would say I did not, at least not entirely.
David Hockney (UK)
Hockney was born in Bradford, UK in 1937. His style is consistent, always with bright colours, emotional realism I would venture to say, and he also does a lot of iPad paintings, in other words digital art and exploration (I do a lot of that and I do like Hockney).
He matters because he is considered a modern master of perception and colour (by «experts»). He seems to be quite able to bridge classic British painting with a new digital optimism. His signature works: A Bigger Splash, Portrait of an Artist.
Jenny Saville (UK)
Saville was born in Cambridge in 1970. Her style is to create monumental figurative paintings of the human body. Her paintings are raw, visceral, unapologetic and quite impressive I may add. (This painter I do really admire).
She matters (and I agree) because she is one of the strongest contemporary voices in figurative painting today. She has reclaimed the human body in art and paints her subjects without objectification but with her own tenderness and visual force. Her signature works are Propped and Plan.
Cecily Brown (UK/US)
Brown was born in London in 1969. Her style is abstract expressionism with a merging of figuration, that also blends with movement, emotion, and sensual chaos. (Although I am not a fan, I do respect her work).
This artist does matter as she has become quite influential as an abstract painter, and many consider that she breaks new life into painting itself. (Not too sure about that last statement).
Njideka Akunyili Crosby (Nigeria/US)
Njideka was born in Nigeria in 1983. Her style is what is called layered portraits which combine painting with collage and photographic transfers. (I am not too thrilled with her work). However, she matters, I suppose, because “they” say she is a leading voice of global contemporary art, exploring identity, diaspora, and memory.
Kerry James Marshall (US)
Marshall, born in Alabama (US) in 1955, paints large, deeply narrative portraits of Black life and beauty. He matters because he is hailed as one of the most important American painters of our time; his work reshapes how history and presence are painted. (Not to me)
Well, next time I will do a full top 10, but now I want to know what you think. Do you agree with the «experts» or do you have your own opinions, or even agree with me? Let me know so that we can keep the conversation on art going.
CHEERS
Estamos de gira – We Are On Tour!
Regresamos en pocos días a seguir ofreciéndoos artículos de arte, música y poesía, pero ahora abarcamos otra gira de trabajo por nuestra España. Disculpad si no podemos leer vuestras entradas o comentar. Un abrazo a todos.
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We will be back in a few days to continue to post articles on Art, Music, Poetry and Travel. But now we are on a working tour in parts of our Spain. Please forgive that we are not able to read and comment on your posts as usual. Big hugs to all.
Bon dia!
Y eso creo que todos lo sabemos, ¿No?
I am Bodo Vespaciano…
Well…an artist creates a painting, a sculpture; a composer a song or a symphony, and perhaps many tunes in between; a choreographer creates a ballet, a modern or jazz dance. But I am a painter. Although I did create…back in 1997…my «greatest» work, I call him «Bodo Vespaciano». I was Bodo for many years, well, until 2019 when I returned to Spain and settled down as Francisco Bravo Cabrera (we use two last names in Spain).
So if you see my work signed as Bodo Vespaciano (or Bodo V), it is still me as I am still Bodo to many people in other countries. And I kind of like Bodo so I do not want to get rid of him so quickly.
I just want to mention that I write, compose and paint, but I do it as the practitioner of a craft…an art-form to many…and not as something intuitive. I have studied and researched my craft too much to allow for something to surge spontaneously out of «inspiration». I am a craftsman so I plan everything, sketch out everything, research colours, tones, hues et cetera and plan…very well…my compositions. And as an artist, I use emotions as a tool. Raw emotion is not art.
I hope you enjoy my site, my blog, my work and whatever else happens to make its way into this site.
Your visits are tremendously appreciated…
CHEERS
Art History: El surrealismo y Dalí – Surrealism and Dalí (español/ingles)
Ya hemos de entrar de lleno en el S. XX y en sus tantas vanguardias y diferentes tendientes artisticas. Una de las mas famosas y duraderas es el surrealismo y quien mejor para dar ejemplo de sus sutilezas que el artista que proclamó, ante el propio creador del surrealismo, André Breton, que él era el surrealismo, Salvador Dalí.
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We are about to fully immerse ourselves in the art of the XX C. and the many vanguards that flourished. One of the most famous ones, which has endured the test of time, is surrealism. Then, who better to give an example of the subtleness of this style than the artist who proclaimed himself…in front of the creator of surrealism, André Breton…to be surrealism, Salvador Dalí.
GRACIAS – CHEERS
#poem, «Forests in the Blackness of Silence»
These are excerpts from the poem «Forests in the Blackness of Silence». To read the full poem, please click here. Thank you!
CHEERS
#art, Art History in One Minute (videos), part 10: Salvador Dalí…
Welcome to part 10 of «Art History in One Minute (videos)» and on this one we are referring to an artist who, no one said was a genius, so he told everybody that he was… Salvador Dalí, the man who said that he was surrealism, is a great artist to many, not so much to me. Personally, I have read some of his books and I think he was a better writer…
Now I want to know what you think. Genius or bufoon?
CHEERS
#art, Dalí, Animal Lover – Amante de los animales…
It is said that Dalí and Gala once found a little bunny rabbit and they kept it as a pet. But since they usually, come November, left to spend the winters in the United States, they did not know what to do with their furry little pet. So, Gala called their cook and said to him, «tomorrow we have stuffed rabbit». The poor cook had to comply and with sadness in his heart and tears in his eyes, he cooked the rabbit. His tears rolled down his cheeks as he served Dalí and Gala the meat of what had been their beloved little pet.
And, to be able to create (see below) «Dalí Atomicus«. This 1948 photograph by Phillipe Halsman required 26 attempts, where they threw three cats and water into the air. How little regard for these poor animals they both showed.
A final anecdote is that Dalí often organised bullfights, and in one of them, he took and filled a dummy bull with live cats and bags filled with fish into the round and with some pyrotechnic devise blew it up so that the live animals inside would fly through the air landing on the spectators. Of course all of this was «surrealistic» and created by the self-named «genius» of modern art.
So, if you want to know why I have such a strong distaste for this non-genius, well here are some of them…
See also: Art History in One Minute (videos): Dalí
CHEERS
#art, Two Women Artists From Far Back in Art History…
One from the 17th Century and one from the 18th to 19th Centuries, but both phenomenal artists. VALENCIARTIST has featured something very important that occurred recently reference one of the paintings of one of these artists Aniella di Beltrano… I hope you enjoy this special edition of the «Art History in One Minute (videos)» limited series…
CHEERS
JaZzArt en València 