Posts Tagged ‘hollywood’

Artist of the moment………John Alvin

{ October 3, 2014 @ 10:36 am } · { Uncategorized }
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John Alvin was a painter who loved movies and spent his career making wonderful movie posters and character design for companies including Disney. John Alvin was born Hyannis, Massachusetts in the year 1948.

The artist grew up around the world as his parents were in the military, but the family settled in California. Alvin attended the Art Center College of Design located in Los Angeles, California.

Alvin’s posters were admired by people in and out of the industry because his posters provided inspiration to the viewer that a great movie was waiting to be seen.

Price range information:

John Alvin passed away in 20008 at the age of 59.

 

In this clip a great interview with John Alvin talking about inspiration and his growth as an artist. His first major poster was the great spaghetti western “Blazing Saddles.”

Another of the artist’s best work were his posters for the movie E.T.

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Artist of the moment…..Jann Haworth….

{ May 12, 2013 @ 12:28 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Jann Haworth is an American  artist born in Hollywood, California in the year 1942. Her whose most famous work was done more than 40 years ago!  Jann Haworth is renown for  helping to design the cover  of the very popular Beatles record, Sargent Pepper. She worked on the project with her husband Peter Blake.

Much more than a painter, the artist is also renown for her work with what is titled soft sculpture. In this clip we hear from the artist about her parents who were both very creative professionals. Her mother was a ceramist and her father worked in Hollywood as a production designer. As a youngster her father would love to take her to the various theater sets and designs. She also talks about her studies abroad and what she learned from them.

A great feature on the artist and her Sargeant Pepper cover, a remake of the artist. The first one featured only 1 african american and 13 women! Times have changed! I love public art like this!

For her collegiate studies Haworth attended the University of California at Los Angeles. She also attended the Courtauld Institute in London where she studied art history. Haworth also attended the Slade School of Art in London, England.

She learned to sew from her mother and has been making dolls, doll clothes, and even clothes for her person since the age of eight years old !

First exhibition in 1966 in the States. First exhibition in London was in 1972.

Price range information: The only price I could find was for the collaboration with Peter Blake and herself for the cover. The original has sold for the low six figures. Many dolls range $12,000 to $20,000.

If you enjoy soft sculpture be sure and check out my article on Claes Oldenburg, who works with soft sculpture but uses food for his main subject. An example of Oldenburg is below.

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Another very interesting couple working with dolls was the family of Calvin and Ruby Black. The couple made very large dolls and opened up a small amusement park in California. For more just search my previous posts for the couple. Most works were carved in wood.

 

 

 

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Awesome Acrylic Artist series….. Davis Cone…

{ March 9, 2012 @ 3:37 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Please visit the artist’s own website @     http://daviscone.com/.

low price range: prints available from $800

high priced range: original paintings in oils $50,000

Land based galleries: Forum Gallery in New York. http://forumgallery.com/artist/davis-cone/

Another New York Gallery the Meisel Gallery showing photo realist painters. http://www.meiselgallery.com/lkmg/artists/#

mediums used: oils, acrylics

surfaces used: canvas

The artist has a book out, shown above in the gallery, of his theater he has painted and I saw it on amazon.com used for around $40.00

The artist is known for his realistic paintings of movie theaters. Canvas size is large as you would expect for his city scenes, many around 3 by 4 feet.  The artist enjoyd the neon lit theater signs of the past.

The artist was born in 1950.

The artist is very concerned with painting every detail  and on most years finishes around 5 paintings. He takes several photos of a theater and then paints the theater without any people around.He enjoys painting theaters that are not part of larger chains. Movie theaters that show artsy independent films that you might see at some place like the Sundance film festival. He noticed these theaters have been disappearing at an alarming rate even back in the 1980s.  On occasion the artist will write his thoughts about the subject matter in the marquee. Some examples he has used in the past are “Sudden Death” or “Seems Like Old Times.

Another unique aspect about this artist is to search for his signature. He reminds me of the great artist Al Hirschfeld who used to sign his daughters name, Nina, and repeat it throughout the works. He would sign his name and then include a number which represented the number of Nina’s to be found in the painting.  Cone signs his name on places you wouldn’t think to look such as a parked car.

Native of Augusta, Georgia but moved to Los Angeles, California. Was denied entry into University of Georgia Fine Arts program as he concentrated solely on photo realistic painting. B.of A. from Mercer college in Atlanta, Georgia.

I must respect any artist that only produces around 5 paintings each year. Imagine how much effort that is brought to produce not only a great drawing, but also the work that goes into the many layers of paint. Its also fun to look at old school theaters that used to exist. As an artist myself I would rather give my money to these theaters rather than the Carmike or Cinemark  that shows mainly large budget movies. With the advent of movies being available with the internet, its yet another blow to the small theater niche painted by this artist.

Also this artist paints great reflections of light on the vehicles painted in front of the theaters.

Try painting your favorite local theater today! If you enjoy this type of work check out artist Bruce Cody who has a similar subject matter.

Keep learning!

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