Archive for September 30, 2012

Artist of the moment….French artist Georges Barbier…

{ September 30, 2012 @ 11:45 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Georges Barbier was a great illustrator and fine artist who was born in Nantes, France in 1882. Barbier took part in his first exhibition at the age of 29 in 1911.

The artist had a great career in a variety of artistic director positions such as head of theater and he even designed dresses and other dance costumes. The artist worked with the internationally known Folies Berger.  Barbier also dabbled in jewelry design. The artist also designed wall paper and glass.

For his college education the artist attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France. Here he was part of a group that was given the title “The Knights  of the

Bracelet. ” The group had a reputation for being flamboyant in both their public appearance and mannerisms.

A great selection of posters and prints of the artist here. I don’ t want to sell you anything, but rather to see how versatile the artist was with his genre. He was certainly at the front of illustrating the upper class lifestyle. His style is considered Art-Deco. I prefer “Gatsby like!”

http://www.art.com/gallery/id–a452/georges-barbier-posters.htm

A clip of some of Barbier’s erotic type of work. I find it similar to present day artist Michael Bergt. Bergt uses egg tempera to bring Greek fables to life. Many Surrealistic visions of creatures like the Centaur, half horse and half man.

A great selection of the complete ouvre of the artist. You can see the artist’s style for flair and sort of “Gatsby” like presentation of large groups celebrating and dancing about.

When the artist passed away in 1932, he was atop the profession. He was already so successful seeing his designs appear on wall paper, glass, and childrens books. He illustrated many books over his career. Barbier also penned essays and illusrations for a hit magazine called “Vogue”  on fashion published in France from 1912 to 1925. When French fashion was at the peak of European style, this magazine was a must read and he its best known artist.

I enjoy the artist for his fashion illustrations the most, though he was great at anything with the female figure. His indoor dining rooms are similar to Lindsay Goodwin. He went into such fine detail in his works its as if the viewer is looking at a very lively photograph! Very good with color as well. I enjoy looking at fashion designs and when Isaac Mizrahi used to have his show on the fashion network, my favorite part of the show was watching him sketch some designs. I wish more artists would do so.

Try drawing or painting a fashion illustration.

Create!

D

Artist of the moment…Anne- Karin Furunes…

{ September 30, 2012 @ 3:56 am } · { Uncategorized }
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The artist was born in Orlund,  Norway in the year 1961. Furunes studied at the National Academy of Fine Art in Oslo, Norway. In high school in Oslo and for two semesters in London, England the artist studied architecture. In the early 1980s the artist attended The School of Fine Arts and Crafts in Oslo.

She is known worldwide for her paintings which are based on old and sometimes  historic photographs. She enlarges the idea and actually makes holes in the canvas. The artist doesn’t always use canvas as a surface. On occasion the artist uses a perforated piece of plastic as her working surface.

 

In this clip from a show given in 2010 at the University of  Wyoming by Anne Karin Furunes. Here she talks about creating work in her specific style of making holes in the canvas.

 

In this clip you can see the artist at work for an installation that she finished in 2010 for an international competition.

Furunes has also garnered some public commissions. She can seemingly adapt her style to fit any size, one  installation work she made in is 200 inches by 200 inches. For the most part she paints with acrlylics on perforated canvases.

 

Low price range: $10,000

High price range:  $40,000

 

One of her medium sized canvases, having sides thirty inches or close to it, is filled with thousands of actual holes. In this manner the artist reminds me of the close up Polaroid photographs and then paintings of Chuck Close. My favorite works of Chuck Close are when the artist was developing his style Clsoe would use a grid to break down the shapes of the face  into smaller absract shapes and patterns. Close up its a wonderful mix of organic and geometric shapes, from a distance the image falls into place perfectly. The dots are similar in that close up its just a random pattern of holes and circles, but take a few steps back and the viewer is transported back to the birth of photography with the artist’s unique painting style.

 

Her first exhitibion was in 1985 and the subject was architecture.

 

On line and land based galleries:  Barry Friedman Gallery located in New York, New York.   Great photography selection as well as fine art such as paintings.

http://www.barryfriedmanltd.com/main.php#

 

I enjoy this artist for her very unique style of creation. Having been to the toy store last weekend, this method of painting would be awesome in a puzzle setting. It would be great to see the artist’s work in person as you could get a better feeling for how the lighting changes when you move farther back or closer to the painting. Again another artist that relies on tone to give a viewer emotional portrait of a person.

 

Try a black and white portrait or figure painting this weekend. For an artist working in black and white and with the female figure check out Bernardo Torrens. I have blogged about him in the past. He works mainly in black and white with acrylics with stunning nudes. Other artists that have done great etchings would be Rembrandt and the current figure master Stephen Scott Young and of course Kathe Kollwitz. All of these artists made very emotional works with little color.

 

D