Cody Hoyt is a modern artist who explores typography and letterform. Hoyt is also a sculptor working with organic shapes and simple patterns that could remind one of animal fur. Cody Hoyt was born in Sarasota, Florida in the year 1980.
Hoyt attended the Massachusetts College of Art located in Boston. The artist also studied abroad in the Netherlands.
Hoyt is based out of Brooklyn, New York.
Human skulls are also a favorite theme of the artist. Over his career his artist has designed many record labels.
Some of my favorite letterform artists include Robert Cottingham, Mel Bochner, Denis Brown, and Rob Wynne.
Christopher Wool is a contemporary American artist born in Chicago, Illinois in the year 1955. Wool started out as an abstract and expressionist painter but his signature style involves using black and white paint and text. Wool is a prolific screen printer. He will often use mixed media such as enamel on aluminum.
The artist also participated in the underground movie and music scene that took place in New York City at that time.
Christopher Wool worked as a studio assistant to Modern artist Joel Shapiro. Shapiro made sculptures using the basic rectangle shape.
Wool attended New York University, New York City Studio School of Art, and
The artist is quite bold in using his text with messages like “sell the house, sell the car, sell the kids.”
In this clip we view a show featuring the abstract paintings of Christopher Wool:
Wool is based out of New York City and Texas.
From the Art Institute of Chicago we see a brief montage of works including his signature text based paintings alongside his abstract works and photography which was based on the city of New York:
The artist has worked with photography in the past. In order to develop a good visual pattern Wool uses Xerox copy machine to help achieve his desired results.
I found the artist quite similar to recently featured artist Mel Bochner.
Price range information: Works range from $4,000 for a photograph to more than $24 million dollars for an original painting using enamel.
Mel Bochner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the year 1940. Bochner is renown for his works which focus on text and color. Earlier in his career the artist worked with measurements as his subject of choice.
In this clip we view a wonderful show featuring the work of Mel Bochner:
Bochner attended Carnegie Mellon University located in Pittsburgh. This is the school that also gave us the great Andy Warhol. Bochner shared a teacher that also mentored Warhol named Joseph Fitzpatrick.
Bochner is a prolific printmaker who has been working with the medium since the 1970s.
The artist is based out of New York City.
Here we Mel Bochner at work via time lapse on one of his signature works:
price range information: Works range from $10,000 to $100,000. Bochner works in many mediums including silk screens, woodcuts, oils, pastels, charcoal, and acrylics.
Other artists featured here that work with typography and text include Stephen Powers and Robert Cottingham.
Finally another great letter artist to study! Kay Rosen is an American artist born in Corpus Christi, Texas in the year 1949. Rosen is renown for her artwork with letters and calligraphy. I find her works great not only for a tremendous use of color, but she has a great wit about her. Sometimes her play on words doesn’t jump into the viewer’s head, but give it a few moments!
In this clip we see a clever work by the artist done in the Chicago Loop. What a great idea to inspire the young children. Go Do Good is name of the sign if its not apparent right away!
Talk about finding your niche! Letters and the alphabet are perfect for his artist who at a very young age spoke Spanish, English, and Yiddish.
For her collegiate studies Rosen attended Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans, Louisiana. Also attended Northwest University.
Part of teaching faculty at the Chicago Art Institute.
Price range information: Prints can be found between $1,500 and $3,000. Original works done with enamels on board can be found between $3,000 and $9,000.
If you enjoy letter artists as much as I do be sure and check out artists Robert Cottingham, Denis Brown, and Mel Bochner.
Michael Bevilacqua was born in Carmel, Georgia in the year 1966.
In this clip we see and hear the artist talk about his work. He is very energetic and one important thing to remember about his work is that he is always listening to music when he creates. I find this very inspirational also, to be inspired to do my art by listening to someone else perform their craft orally.
For his collegiate studies Bevilacqua first went to the Cambridge College of Art and Technology located in Great Britain. Bevilacqua then attended Santa Barbara City College and Long Beach State University both located in California.
Bevilacqua currently lives and works out of New York city.
The artist has works in many prominent collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of New York, and museums located in Greece, Denmark, Norway, and Japan.
The artist reminds me of several people but first off Mel Bochner. Bochner is renown for using text and sometimes quite vulgar text to spread his message. Bochner was born in 1940 and still produces works in this very expressive style. Below is a great example of Bochner’s work and sometimes vulgar way of painting.
And another work below is titled “Money.” I love the way he takes one theme, and then uses words to bring the viewer closer to his thoughts. Money is the idea, then we have what money is called in various places around the world, and finally the effects of money such as the root of all evil. Bochner is very creative in his designs but always straight forward in his message.
Lets take a quick glance at someone else doing great work with text, Stephen Powers. Very expressive and blunt in the same manner as Bochner, but with a more colorful palette. Here are two great examples of Power’s style.
And another example of Stephen Power’s work below.
Bevilacqua’s style is perfect for modernism and art. He uses a variety of highly recognizable logos, music, fashion, and even children’s cartoons. Where as Andy Warhol’s work was a snapshot of the consumer in the 1950s and 1960s, Bevilacqua’s work is a great snapshot of what it is to be a consumer in the world of today. Where as in the 1950s and 60s some logos might only be known in a certain area of the world, the internet and globalization will make many companies more familiar outside of their own borders.
Try designing and executing a great work of art using text as the subject!
Diattaart Blog 