Archive for November 20, 2013

Artist of the moment……Karl Otto Gotz

{ November 20, 2013 @ 10:40 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Karl Otto Gotz is a German artist born in the year 1914 in Aachen, Germany. Having lived such a long life the artist has worked as an abstract painter and realistic landscape painter, he is best known for his wonderful abstract paintings. When the Nazi power was in full swing in Germany, they banned Gotz from showing his work.  The artist made money by selling paintings of landscapes to tourists.

Gotz had to join the  Second World and here he was exposed to use of radar. His early abstract works were replications of what he saw on the radar screen.

Gotz gave up his realistic style of painting in 1949 and decided to concentrate on more abstract works.

Gotz was a professor at the Academy of Art in Dusseldorf, Germany.

In addition to painting Gotz also creates collage works.

In this clip a wonderful selection of works by Karl Gotz:

Price range information: Works range from $3,000 to $250,000.

D

Artist of the moment……Joyce Ballantyne

{ November 20, 2013 @ 4:38 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Joyce Ballantyne was an American artist associated with the “pin up” girl movement. Joyce Ballantyne was born in the year 1918 in Norfolk, Nebraska. A highly successful commercial artist one the artist’s most renowned works was that of the Coppertone Girl. She spent much of her illustration career working for Grant Advertising Agency.

 

For her collegiate education Ballantyne attended the University of Nebraska, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the American Academy of Art.

Ballantyne began her career as an illustrator of books. She also created maps for the company Rand McNally.

Price range information: Works range from $3,000 to $25,000. Ballantyne worked in many mediums including watercolor, gouache, oils, and acrylics.

The Coppertone Girl was an image of a young blond girl whose swimsuit is being pulled off by a small dog. Across the country some billboards were installed with moving parts that showed the swimsuit coming down and revealing the very pale buttocks in comparison to girl’s golden legs. Here is the Coppertone advertisement in case you haven’t seen it.

coppertone

The artist often used herself for a model.

Joyce Ballantyne passed away in 2006 at the age of 88.

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Artist of the moment…..Ronnie Woods

{ November 20, 2013 @ 11:47 am } · { Uncategorized }
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I am sure you associate the name Ronnie Woods with the legendary rock group the Rolling Stones, but he also a very talented painter and excellent draftsman. Ronnie Woods was born in the year 1947 in Middlesex, England. Upon looking at his work with the untainted eye of him being a celebrity, I was very impressed with his sense of design. With so much abundance of advertising and the advent of I-tunes, the artist and the public don’t pay attention to album covers as much as in years past. I love the Sargent Pepper album for the Beatles hit LP, but couldn’t tell you a cover that has blown my artistic mind since 2000.

Back in the 1960s an album was a key component to increasing album sales. Wood has a great eye for cropping the face of an artist but also for using his artistic eye to make a celebrity portrait that one can recognize easily. Wood is a great draftsman and draws the nude figure as well as he paints and draws the face.

For his artistic education Ronnie Wood attended the Ealing College of Art located in London.

One fan and collector of Ronnie Wood is former United States President Bill Clinton.

In this clip we visit a show featuring Ronnie Wood in the spring of 2013:

A link to the website showing the art of Ronnie Wood:

http://www.ronniewoodexhibition.com/ronnie-wood-exhibition-1.php

In this clip a fantastic selection of works by Ronnie Wood:

Price range information: Most works priced between $2,000 and $12,000.

What a talented artist! Other musicians who paint and have been profiled here include Tony Bennett and Bob Dylan.

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Artist of the moment……..Toko Shinoda

{ November 20, 2013 @ 2:37 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Toko Shinoda was one of the foremost Japanese printmaker and she is still alive today at 100 years of age! I enjoy reading about artists who live to be 100 years or older and some already profiled here include Martha Walters and Grandma Moses. Toko Shinoda was born on March 28th on 1913. Shinoda has worked with ink and prints. Her style is a mixture of abstraction and calligraphy.

Shinoda began to teach calligraphy in 1935.

Toko Shinoda was born in Manchuria where her father ran a tobacco factory. In 1914 the family moved to Tokyo, Japan.

Toko Shinoda visited the United States in the mid 1950s where she became influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement. Shinoda began to experiment with abstract works in the late 1940s.

In this clip a wonderful montage of works by Toko Shinoda:

For her printmaking works Shinoda prefers to work with lithography. Shinoda began to work with lithography in the late 1960s.

In her brushwork Shinoda is trying to evoke nature. Some themes include wind or aromas.

Price range information: Works range from $500 to $30,000.

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