Archive for August 12, 2013

Artist of the moment…..Dog photographer William Wegman

{ August 12, 2013 @ 9:55 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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William Wegman is a fantastic American painter and photographer that is renown for his work with man’s best friend, dogs! William Wegman was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts in the year 1943. For his artistic education Wegman attended the Massachusetts College of Art. Wegman went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champagne.

For many of his works Wegman used a Polaroid.

Is included in prominent museum collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

In this clip Wegman tells us why he likes to work with our four legged friends!

And in this clip which is more than 30 years old, we visit the old NBC version of the David Letterman show with Bill Wegman and his dog Man Ray as a guest! This was the dog that brought Wegman his fame for shooting dogs. The dog was named Man of the Year by the Village Voice magazine, a free newspaper that tells about the goings on of New York City. The two also appeared on Johnny Carson.

And in this clip we go out with the artist on a shoot. I think he has more fun at his job than the “dog whisperer.”

Wegman’s dogs have also been featured on the show Sesame Street. Below we watch as his dog’s perform rub a dub, dub, dub.

The breed of dog he owns is called the Weimaraner.

price range information: Works range from $2,000 to $40,000.

D

Artist of the moment….photographer Adam Fuss

{ August 12, 2013 @ 3:45 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Adam Fuss is a painter and a photographer born in London,  England in the year 1961.  His father owned a company that made dresses and his mother was a fashion model from the country of  Australia. His father had a stroke and since Fuss was only 2 years old required the constant care of a nurse. His father passed away when Adam Fuss was only 5 years old.

He moved from England after his father’s death to live with his “mum'” in Australia. Eventually the artist would move to New York City and take various odd job. His first experimentation with a camera was a “pinhole camera.” These works made up the artist’s first successful shows.

After this came his most sought after works by museums, his works with the photogram. First Fuss places objects of a surface and with concentration on what happens the moment the two surfaces meet. An example is the baby hitting the water and the shapes the ripples of the water make. A similar incident happens with an eel moving through the water or the ripples after a rock is thrown in the water. The title of this series is the “Ark series.”

The artist enjoys images that are familiar with everyone including infants, dresses,  the petals of flowers and droplets of water.

price range information: Works range from $3,000 to $30,000.

In this clip we visit a show from 2010 and the Chem & Reid Gallery. This show deals with the serpentine figure seen often in artist’s work.

In this clip we visit a more recent show from 2012. A brief interview with the artist is included.

Works of Adam Fuss can be found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City, the Israel Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

price range information: Works range from $3,000 to $90,000.

Artist of the moment…photographer Victor Schrager

{ August 12, 2013 @ 2:19 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Victor Schrager is a wonderful American photographer born in Bethesda, Maryland in the year 1950. Schrager is renown for his work and imagery dealing with books and also for his work in the genre of making photographs of the still life an expressive fine art medium of choice. For the works with books he generally uses an old book with a very used hardcover.

For his collegiate education the artist attended Harvard.

When the Whitney Biennial held its first photography session the artist was included. (1981)

Started off working with color and over the years has made the switch to black and white and now has again focused on color. It depends on the subject matter the artist is working with.

Some well acclaimed series include a series done on birds.

Schrager is based out of New York City.

Winner of fellowships from the Guggenheim and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Has works included in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and San Francisco Museum of Art.

price range information : Most work between $1,000 and $4,000.

Schrager has been the photographer for books including this one titled “Melons for the Passionate Grower.” Still life photography is perfect for this book!

D

Artist of the moment….Alfredo Ramos Martinez

{ August 12, 2013 @ 11:02 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Alfredo Ramos Martinez was a wonderful artist born in Monterrey, Mexico in the year 1871. Throughout his life he lived in Paris, France, Los Angeles, and Mexico city and was renown as a teacher and painter. Martinez had a style that blended modernism with the figure. His father was a merchant and he was the 9th child of the family.

price range information: The artist has broken the $4 million dollar mark at auction. Martinez worked in many mediums including watercolours and pastels which can be found for less than six figures.

When he was 14 years old he won a prize for the best portrait of the governor of Monterrey. The prize was a scholarship that allowed him to study at the Academy of Fine Arts located in Mexico City and the family soon relocated to allow him this opportunity.

As a student Martinez worked mainly in watercolours. He was able to sell many paintings as a student, but knew to fully succeed as an artist he would have to relocate to Europe. His family had money, but not enough for him to accomplish this dream. Fortunately the artist was lucky and was invited to a dinner for the president of Mexico and Phoebe Hearst. The artist made some works to showcase his talent to Hearst. Phoebe Hearst came from money and was the mother of William Hearst who would go on to be become chairman of the Hearst Publishing Empire. Phoebe loved his work, purchased some works, and agreed to pay for him to study abroad in Europe. Martinez took for Paris in 1900. He would receive $500 francs per month from the Hearst family.

In Europe he was able to see works by the Impressionists and the Dutch masters Van Gogh and Rembrandt.

Participated at the largest show at the time for artists, the Paris salon. He would go on win the gold medal. With this recognition the Hearst family quit paying him the $500 and he would start earning his way through life as an artist.

The artist did well in Paris but returned to Mexico when it was in turmoil throughout the country due to politics. The president resigned and eventually Alfredo Martinez would become director of the National Academy of Art.

The artist would eventually marry and have a daughter that had a disease that required the family to move from the climate of Mexico to Los Angeles, California.

Once in California he was collected by the elite of Hollywood from Albert Hitchcock to the legendary Jimmy Stewart.

Great selection of works by Alfredo Martinez set to music.

D