Archive for June 14, 2013

Artist of the moment….Li Lihong

{ June 14, 2013 @ 10:17 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Li Lihong is a very sought after artist born in Dezhen Jin, China in 1974. Lihong is renown for mixing the ancient craft of ceramics with modern symbols and imagery. For instance a porcelain replica of a mcdonalds sign painted with smaller chinese symbols. Western logos and icons with chinese motifs.

For his collegiate studies the artist attended the Chinese Central Academy of Art and Design. He was able to study under a master ceramics artist, the grand master Qin Xilling for his masters degree from Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute.

He is from an area of China renown for making the royal porcelain. In art terms, its similar to being from the Delft area of Holland. The region is known for its delftware.

Li Lihong is a working artist and also a professor at Fudan University. Lihong teaches the ancient art of Chinese porcelain at the college.

Price range information: Most works are in porcelain and range from $15,000 to $25,000.

I found the artist’s work to be similar to the idea of Ai WeiWei and the Ming Dynasty vases he made a few years ago using the coca-cola logo. Below is an example of Ai WeiWei and his vase idea. A great way to mix two cultures that existed many centuries apart.

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Artist of the moment….Kay Rosen

{ June 14, 2013 @ 7:56 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Finally another great letter artist to study! Kay Rosen is an American artist born in Corpus Christi, Texas in the year 1949. Rosen is renown for her artwork with letters and calligraphy. I find her works great not only for a tremendous use of color, but she has a great wit about her. Sometimes her play on words doesn’t jump into the viewer’s head, but give it a few moments!

In this clip we see a clever work by the artist done in the Chicago Loop. What a great idea to inspire the young children. Go Do Good is name of the sign if its not apparent right away!

Talk about finding your niche! Letters and the alphabet are perfect for his artist who at a very young age spoke Spanish, English, and Yiddish.

For her collegiate studies Rosen attended Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans, Louisiana. Also attended Northwest University.

Part of teaching faculty at the Chicago Art Institute.

Price range information: Prints can be found between $1,500 and $3,000. Original works done with enamels on board can be found between $3,000 and $9,000.

If you enjoy letter artists as much as I do be sure and check out artists Robert Cottingham, Denis Brown, and Mel Bochner.

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Artist of the moment…….Hans Rudolf Giger

{ June 14, 2013 @ 9:52 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Hans Rudolf Giger is a Swiss sculptor and Surrealist painter born in 1940 in the city of Chur, Switzerland.  Giger is renown for his very modern versions of the figure and also for his depictions of aliens. He was a co-producer of the movie alien and for his work even won an Oscar for working on the movie. Giger is both a superb draughstman and sculptor. For his drawings some themes are aliens, dolls, and toys.

Some examples of Hans Giger and aliens in this clip.

For his collegiate studies Giger went to Zurich, Switzerland where he attended the Applied School of Applied Arts where he learned about industrial design and architecture.

His father was a chemist and wanted his son to study pharmaceuticals because he didn’t think there was any money to be made with art.

For many years his chosen medium was the airbrush. Now he works a great deal with ink.

A link to the artist’s own personal website: http://www.hrgiger.com/

For most of his life Giger has been bothered with night terrors. To me this gives his work a deathly or sinister look. When I first saw some darker works by Giger it reminded me of the great painter Edvard Munch and his famous painting the Scream. Both have a very emotional aspect in their depictions of the figure. Below is the Scream by Edvard Munch.

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Giger has used also used  his skills to design furniture and also theater/ movie set design. As a movie producer, artist, and sculptor it appears Giger never runs out of enthusiasm or ideas to conquer!

An interview with the artist and a quick visit to his museum located in Gruyere, Switzerland. We visit his bar.

Price range information: Prints and silkscreens can be found between $500 and $2,000. Original acrylic paintings can fetch between $4,000 and $50,000. Sculptures are priced $2,000 to $6,000.

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Artist of the moment…..Logan Grider

{ June 14, 2013 @ 1:58 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Logan Grider is a fantastic contemporary artist who blends a great sense of design with geometric and organic shapes alongside a great use of color. Logan Grider was born in 1981 in Salem, Oregon.

For his collegiate studies the artist earned a bachelors of fine art from the Chicago Institute of Art. Grider went on to earn a masters of fine arts from Yale Univeristy.

Grider is now an associate professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania where he teaches drawing a painting courses.

Here we visit a show at Swarthmore College. We listen to the lead curator at Swarthmore College. These works blend abstraction with modernism. Grider talks about design and color. He also talks about now making his own paintbrushes!

In this clip we visit a genre show featuring Logan Grider with our dear friend and fellow art enthusiast Logan Grider.  Logan Grider’s work is shown at 4:20 into the clip.

His work is like looking at a painting of a collage with so many varied textures and designs. His work has a great paint quality to a it as he uses wax in addition to his paints.

Price range information: Sorry none available.

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