Archive for August 20, 2014

Artist of the moment…….Thornton Willis

{ August 20, 2014 @ 12:13 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Thornton Willis is a wonderful American Abstract Expressionist painter born in Pensacola, Florida in the year 1936. Willis attended the University of Southern Mississippi where he earned a bachelor’s degree. Willis went on to earn a MFA from the University of Alabama.

A link to the website of Thornton Willis:

http://www.thorntonwillis.com/

Willis has been based out of New York City since 1967.

Price range information: Sorry none available.

The artist works in oils, acrylics, and pastels.

Here we visit a show with James Kalm that took place in 2009:

 

In this clip we visit a gallery show of Thornton Willis with the wonderful art critic James Kalm! From 2007.

Willis has a wonderful mix of shape and fantastic use of color!

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Artist of the moment…….Michael Ray Charles

{ August 20, 2014 @ 11:33 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Michael Ray Charles is an African- American painter renown for his art that explores the advertising and race. Some subjects covered by Charles include the National Basketball Association, Aunt Jemima, and even fried chicken! Charles likes to include modern ideas such as the N.B.A. with older style advertising formats that were very popular in yesteryear.

The artist works with acrylics and latex and often scrapes and somewhat damages his surfaces to give his works an older feel, as if they were an actual advertisement.

Michael Ray Charles was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in the year 1967. Charles attended McNeese State University located in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The artist went on to graduate school and earned an MFA from the University of Houston.

In this clip from Art21 and PBS, a brief interview with the artist explaining his thoughts on race and how he uses race in his artwork:

Charles has served on the board of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Price range information: Sorry none available.

 

A few artists that also work with the theme of race include Kara Walker and Kerry James Marshall.