Abdoulaye Konaté is one the brightest stars of the African art scene. Konaté is renown for his work with figures and textiles.
Abdoulaye Konaté was born in Diré, Mali in the year 1953. The artist studied at the National Art Academy located in Bamako, Mali. The artist went on to study abroad and at the National Institute for Art located in Havana, Cuba.
The artist is now based out of Bamako. He works as a graphics designer and has worked for the National Museum.
Though his work is very abstract it is based on actual events and feelings. His work has explored thoughts on racism, religion, and A.I.D.S.
Konaté likes to use materials that are unique to Mali.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Below a wonderful clip showing closeup views of works by the artist:
Having seen the much hyped work of El Anatsui at the Denver Museum, I am much more impressed by the works of Konaté as his works mix both realism and abstraction. Both have a similar sense of design, but for me Konaté’s work is bold and easy to understand.
Dran is a funny street artist based in France. Dran enjoys using humor and art to point to flaws in society. My favorite works of his are children’s drawings. Jacob Lawrence had a similar artwork, but Dran’s are better executed and communicate more clearly to the viewer. The artist often refers to iconic American images in his work. Take Pinocchio for example. Pinocchio is now part of the Geico family of commercials. I also believe we have the beloved American responsible for cleaning everything, MR. CLEAN!
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Dran has been labeled the French “Banksy.”
The artist is based of Toulouse, France.
Dran has been part of numerous exhibitions in many E.U. nations including Spain, France, and the United Kingdom.
The artist works in many mediums.
In this clip we visit a great show featuring the work of Drane:
First of all what a great name for an artist! Art Thompson was born in the year 1948 in a small villlage named Whyac located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. His heritage includes two nations, the Coast Salish and Nuu-chah-nulth nations. Art Thompson was an all around artist making totem poles, masks, and jewelry.
His father and grandfather were renown artists producing totem poles and masks.
The artist developed tuberculosis and spent much time in hospital as a child.
Started to work at age 13 in the logging industry.
For his artistic education Art Thompson attended the Camosun College in Victoria. Whilst in college he studied commercial design and also came back to his roots. He started to use ideas and images from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation.
Art Thompson passed away in 2003.
price range information: Most serigraphs or prints priced between $500 and $1,000. No pricing available for masks, totem poles, or jewelry.
Faunographic is a female street artist renown for her work with birds and plants. The artist is based out of Sheffield, South Yorkshire England. Faunographic has an extensive background in graphic design. For her collegiate studies she attended Calderdale College in Halifax, England.
With a business partner named Rocket01, the duo run their own design and even take on commissions. The pair has worked with such industry giants as the Converse shoe company.
In 2011 Faunographic painted the largest ever mural in the city of Manchester, England. We get a time lapse view of the project that was sponsored by Converse:
price range information: Sorry none available.
In this clip the artist gives us a brief background of what inspires her to create:
A great interview with the artist talking about her favorite birds to paint and the colour she uses:
If you are bored on a very cold and snowy take one hour and watch this exciting documentary on Escher.
A short briefing on Escher’s use of mathematics and the creation of repeating patterns in his artwork.
M.C. Escher was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands in the year 1898. The house he was born in is a museum housing ceramics of the region. He is known for his many works of art that challenge the viewer to see “hidden images.” A great example of this is the works that have a black fish and a white fish with the same simple shape. Escher was a tremendous graphic artist and I dream of what he could do with such products like artproducts software…
The artist was born Maurits Cornelius Escher. His father was an engineer.
Growing up the Escher was often sick. His grades in school weren’t outstanding but from a young age the artist loved to draw.
Escher attended school in Delft. Also studied at the Architecture and Ornamental Design School in Haarlem. (A side note, if you travel around the world to look at art as I do, take one day and spend it in Haarlem. I ended up staying there rather than Amsterdam as I loved the slower and more laid back place. Frans Hals paintings are easy to find since this was his territory back in the days of the Dutch Renaissance. )
Among his early learning years Escher’s most important mentor was Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. Mesquita was a great graphic artist who made woodcuts and linocuts. He also was a tremendous painter. Later in his life Escher made sure his mentor was not forgotten. Below is a floral work by de Mesquita.
Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was also a master printmaker and I can’t help but think that is the most important lesson that Escher learned from him. Below is an example of a woodcut by de Mesquita. Mesquita is an important story in that he was born to a Jewish family in Amsterdam. During a sweep he was taken to the gas chambers and executed. Escher always gave him props and I wanted to mention him since many works were destroyed by the Nazi’s.
Married in 1924 and then moved to Rome until 1935. Then he and the family moved back to the Netherlands where he would live the remainder of his life.
Whilst travelling in Europe the artist became found of Alhambra Palace located in Granada, Spain. The use of mathematics in their design and repititious made logical sense the artist. Here is a fantastic example of the intricate use of design in the palace. Escher was fascinated by this palace and returned to visit on several occassions.
Escher passed away in Hilversum, Netherlands at the age of 73 years old.
Another great fact about the artist was that unlike some artists who age and are no longer able to work, the artist found a wonderful Dutch retirement home that was meant to be a place for aging artists to live, whilst still being able to engage and participate in the art world. This particular home was founded by Rosa Spier who was a notable harpist. Escher spent the last two years of his life here. A picture of the home located in Loren, Netherlands is below.
Price range information: The artist stuck to creating prints. Prices on lithographs range from $10,000 to $30,000. Woodcuts range from $1,000 to $80,000.
The artist was born in 1955 in Tehran, Iran. She was born in Iran and now lives in France. She attended college in Paris, France studying at the L’ecole Supierieur D’Art Graphique and Photographique. She also attended school in the United States at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Colorado Institute of Art.
First solo exhibition was in 1991 in Denver, Colorado.
The artist is very schooled in a variety of mediums. Most of her works include acrylics, glitter, charcoal and are on both canvas and paper.
I enjoy this artist for her very unique blend of western and eastern cultures that appear in her paintings. She has been well schooled around the globe in art and her artwork shows this wonderful blend of cultures. I enjoy looking at floral scenes more than any other genre. From the highly detailed paintings that include vases and perhaps a table that Ben Schonzeit might produce. To the pictures that use the flower line as a fun inorganic shape and contrast them with other shapes. The artist has so much freedom in this more contemporary type of work because the goal isn’t to recreate an image, but rather to enjoy the shapes and colors that the flowers bring to the viewer.
Other artists celebrating the shape and colors of flowers with concentration on flat shapes and bright explosive colours would be Alicia LaChance. LaChance even uses fresco techniques in her paintings. My favorite artist working in this style of flat shapes and patterns is Robert Kushner. If you get the chance to see his works in person, DON’T PASS IT UP. In many works he takes one flower and will paint the outline using acrylics over say a sheet of music. Then he takes his artistic liberty even further and adds glitter, gold leaf, silver leaf, mica, and many other materials finally enclosing them in muliptle layers of resin. This resin makes the glitter appear to glow as the viewer moves about the picture.
I love flower paintings of all types, but when I look at those works that aren’t concerned with realism or depicting a certain still life arrangement, it makes me appreciate the many mediums used by the aforementioned artists and their ability to design what they think is a great pattern and design. They use the most their creativity can offer and I can imagine them painting their flowers with a smile and most importantly it seems they have a lot of fun when painting in this style and manner.
High price range: $10,000
Low price range: $5,000
Try a floral work in which you concentrate on line and color and not just painting what is right in front of you, EXPERIMENT and go FLAT!
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