Archive for June 29, 2013

Artist of the moment……Janet Taylor Pickett

{ June 29, 2013 @ 10:58 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Janet Taylor Pickett is a mixed media artist born in 1948 in Michigan. Pickett is renown for working with dresses which she uses to convey identity. For her collegiate studies the artist attended many art institutions. She attended the Michigan School of Art and Design for her BFA. Her post graduate work was done at the University of Michigan. In addition she attended Parsons School of Design.

I love the way she includes renown painters in her work. An appropriation done with her favorite subject of dresses.

I find her work very similar to the artist Christina Chalmers, who also has built a reputation for working with the dress as a main subject. Below a great example of Chalmer’s work with the dress. She also creates sculptures of dresses.

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Taught much of her career at Essex County College. Also taught at Bloomfield College.

Pickett is a multi media artist that enjoys working with canvas, fabric, collage, and paint.

Price range information: Sorry, none available.

In this clip Pickett talks about her work.

Another great interview with the artist.

I love the patterns and colors used by both Christina Chalmers and Janet Taylor Pickett works!

D

Artist of the moment…..Zao Wou- Ki

{ June 29, 2013 @ 10:19 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Zao Wou- Ki was born in 1920 in Beijing, China and would go on to become a force in the art world renown for his work done in an abstract style. As a child he studied calligraphy. His first wife was also an artist, a song composer. For his artistic education Wou- Ki attended the Chinese Academy of Fine Art.

Zao Wou- Ki was a member of the Academie des Beaux Arts.

In the mid 1950s he divorced his wife and visited the States in 1957.

Shortly after he found his next wife, Zhu Ying, who was a movie star. Later she became a sculptor receiving critical acclaim. At her peak, she committed suicide.

A main influence on the artist was Paul Klee. Below an example of Klee’s work. Other influences were Picasso, Cezanne, and Matisse.

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Price range information. Auction record was set in 2011 at $8,864,000. Already has had five works break the $1 million mark in 2013.

Here we see a brief interview with the artist. He also gives remarks about the use of space in both eastern and western painting.

Montage of works by Zao Wou- Ki.

Zao Wou- Ki passed away in April of 2013 at the age of 93 years old.

I have never seen this artists work in person, but even on a monitor his use of space is a done at a master level. A space that is very small, seems very open and large. Wonderful compositions and use of color! Zao Wou- Ki was a master of abstraction!

D

Artist of the moment…..Mannumi Shaqu

{ June 29, 2013 @ 9:42 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Mannumi Shaqu was a fantastic Inuit Shaqu born near the Cape Dorset, Nunavet Territory, Canada  in the year 1917. He was actually born in an igloo.

price range information: Carvings range from $500 to $11,000.

When he was young he was scared of white people as he feared they might try to kidnap him.

Started to carve as a teenager and started to work with etching drawings on tusks. His favorite medium was a hard dark stone, serpentine was used in many cases, that he would carve a female out of.

A direct quote from Shaqu reads, ” For many years I have carved. I usually carve every day, I have no other job.”

Shaqu was renown for works often featuring two figures such as husband and wife or mother and child.

What a great life!

Mannumi Shaqu passed away in 2000 at the age of 83 years old.

In this clip we see an example of a work featuring husband and wife.

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