Sheng Qi is a modern contemporary artist renown for his work with political activism and figure. Sheng Qi was born in Anhui Province in the year 1965. Sheng Qi is a painter, performance artist, and photographer.
Sheng Qi had a fantastic collegiate career studying in some of the world’s best institutions for art. Qi attended the Central Academy of Art and Design located in Beijing. Qi also lived and work in Italy for a few years before earning a M.F.A. from the Central Saint Martin’s Academy of Art and Design located in London, England.
In this clip we view Sheng Qi’s first solo exhibition in London, England:
Qi’s often paints with acrylics on canvas.
Price range information: Most works priced between $5,000 and $40,000.
Ken Danby was a Canadian painter renown for his paintings of the figure, horses, and the ocean. Ken Danby was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada in the year 1940. For his figurative paintings he concentrated on the female figure and also male hockey players.
Danby attended the Ontario College of Art.
Price range information: The artist worked in watercolors and oils. These works range between $10,000 and $150,000. Danby was a prolific printmaker and many works range between $1,000 and $5,000.
Danby was made a member of the Canadian Academy of Art.
In this clip Danby talks about the importance of ART in education:
Ken Danby passed away in 2007 whilst on a canoe trip.
A link to the artist’s website and representation:
Danby was a very skilled painter. My favorite works of his are the horses in water. His figure watercolor paintings of the figures recall another artist who recently passed away this year, Steve Hanks.
The artist also created works in tempera and oils which remind me of Andrew Wyeth with their attention to different textures.
Qaqaq Ashoona was a son of the famous Inuit artist Pitseolak Ashoona.
Qaqaq Ashoona was born in Ikirasak, Nunavut Territory in the year 1928. The artist began life as a hunter and trapper. He turned to art to make a living in 1953.
Ashoona used only hand tools to make his wonderful carvings.
His wife was also a well respected Inuit artist, Mayoreak Ashoona. She was a renown printmaker already featured here.
The artist passed away in 1996.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Qaqaq Ashoona put great detail in his art. I enjoy his interpretations of the Goddess of the Sea, Sedna. They show a great sense of creativity and the sculptures have a great sense of life and animation.
Keith Wolfe Smarch is a Tlingit artist specializing in carvings and masks. Keith Wolfe Smarch is from the community of Teslin, Yukon, Canada. It is a very small city of less than 500 residents.
Keith Wolfe Smarch was born in the year 1961.
In this clip we view an interview where Keith Wolfe Smarch talks about carving canoes and walking sticks:
The artist received inspiration and knowledge from legendary Tlingit and Thaltan carver Dempsey Bob.
The works that Keith Wolfe Smarch carves represent the knowledge he has learned about his Tlingit cultural background and history.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
In this clip a brief interview with Keith Wolfe Smarch:
Keith Wolfe Smarch has spent time living in Japan.
Aaron Douglas was an African- American artist associated with the Harlem Renaissance who painted in a Modernist style. Aaron Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas in the year 1899.
Douglas attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln earning a B.F.A. A year later he added a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Kansas.
A few years after earning his second degree the artist relocated to Harlem, New York.
Douglas was one of the most sought after illustrators of the leading African- American magazines. He even tried to start his own magazine that was to showcase the up and coming younger artists.
He spent part of 1931 in Paris, France studying art as a grant award recipient.
In this clip we find Aaron Douglas at the Nebraska Museum of Art:
Douglas started the art department at Fisk University located in Nashville, Tennessee.
In this clip we get a peak at Aaron Douglas at the easel. Some jazz music is played and I must pass on the sad news that American Jazz legend B.B. King passed away at the age of 89:
Aaron Douglas passed away in 1979 at the age of 79.
Price range information: Works range from $20,000 to $500,000. Douglas worked in oils, watercolors, and gouache.
Douglas was of the first African American artists to earn a degree, and surely one of the first to earn two degrees. Yet, I feel as he is under appreciated for his contributions to the art world.
Jaroslav Serych was a Czech artist who was a painter, illustrator, and printmaker. Jaroslav Serych was born in what is now called Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic in the year 1928.
Serch attended the Academy of Art located in Prague.
Serych had nearly 100 solo exhibitions over his lengthy career. For his work in printmaking and illustration the artist won many awards including one for “Book of the Year.”
Below we visit the studio of Jaroslav Serych:
Jaroslav Serych passed away in 2014 at the age of 86 years old.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Serych produced a large body of work over his career with his printmaking works that are abstract with no figures. These works show a great use of color and very abstract organic shapes.
Gino Severini was an Italian painter associated with the Cubist and Futurist movements. Gino Severini was born in Cortona, Italy in the year 1883. His father worked in the courts and his mother was a dress maker.
Below a montage of works by Gino Severini:
Severini studied in Rome at the Rome Fine Art Institute. After relocating to Paris, France in 1906 the artist fell in the love with the city and considered with Cortona (his birthplace) the artist’s two favorite cities.
Severini enjoyed painting the figure whilst in motion. Some favorite subjects of the artist included dancers and musicians.
One of his biggest influences was the artist Giocoma Balla, already profiled here.
Price range information: Works range from $5,000 to $750,000. The artist was a prolific printmaker.
Gino Severini passed away in 1966.
Severini had a great eye for composition. His Cubist and Futurist works showing the movement of human figure are fascinating for how many shapes they contain, whilst still showing a great sense of movement through out the picture.
Roger Hilton was a English artist renown for his abstract works. The artist was born Roger Hildesheim, but the family later changed it’s surname due to anti German feelings after the First World War. Roger Hilton was born in Northwood, London, England in the year 1911.
Hilton attended the Slade School of Art located in London, England.
Hilton served in World War 2. After a failed plan of attack by the Allied Forces, Hilton spent multiple years as a prisoner of war.
Though he was best known for his abstract art, later in his career the artist worked with the figure.
In this lengthy interview the artist’s widow talks about Mr. Hilton during a show that celebrates his 1o0th birthday:
Roger Hilton passed away in 1975.
The artist won the John Moore Painting Prize.
Price range information: Works range from $20,000 to $300,000. Hilton worked in oils, watercolors, gouache, ink, pastel, and charcoal.
Hilton was a wonderful abstract using many different techniques of applying paint and mediums. Though he is associated with the Abstract Art movement after the War period, I enjoy his animals and figure works he painted later in his career the best. These works have almost perfect combinations of realism and abstraction.
Qavavau Manumie is a contemporary Inuit artist renown for his drawings of animals and people. Qavavau Manumie was born in Brandon, Manitoba in the year 1958.
The artist is now based out of Cape Dorset, Nunavut Territory, Canada.
His first solo exhibition took place in 2008. In this clip we view a show featuring Manumie that took place in 2012:
Manumie was one of the featured artist in the 2015 Cape Dorset print calendar.
Below a great interview with the artist:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
I enjoy the Pop art aspect of Manumie’s art. Though he works with traditional Inuit motifs, the artist also pays homage to modern items such as stiletto high heeled shoes. From a design aspect, his work is similar in composition to Kenjuak Ashevak.
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