Jim Lee is an American artist working in an abstract style. The artist attended Hope College located in Holland, Michigan earning a B.A. degree. Lee went on to earn a M.F.A. from the University of Delaware located in Newark.
Lee often uses irregular shaped canvases. Not only are they irregular from the front, but often the artist uses extra wood to make the piece push out from the wall.
Lee uses many mediums in his pieces including oils, acrylics, spray paint, enamel, rubber, aluminum, latex paint, wood, staples, and fabric.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
The artist is now based out of Brooklyn, New York.
Lee likes to focus on how a painting “lives” in its environment. How the work takes up space and fits into its surroundings. My favorite works of the artist are those pieces that use geometric based shapes with an irregular shaped canvas.
Another unique aspect is that Lee’s process often puts the painting surface through some sort of damage. This could be tearing or slicing the surface, then repairing it by sewing. For Jim Lee the work is the fun of the process!
Joel Shapiro is a contemporary American painter and sculptor renown for his work work with basic geometric shapes. Joel Shapiro was born in New York City in the year 1941.
His wife is also an artist, Ellen Phelan.
Below a great sampling of smaller sculptures made by Joel Shapiro:
Shapiro attended New York University where he earned a M.F.A.
The artist’s later works often appear to be falling or even flying. Shapiro does a wonderful job at giving movement to square and rectangles.
In this clip Joel Shapiro talks about a large sculpture which was installed at the United States Embassy in Ottawa, Canada:
Shapiro is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles.
Price range information: Drawings and etchings can be found between $2,000 and $10,000. Sculptures in iron, bronze, and wood range from $20,000 to $200,000.
Dewain Valentine is an American artist renown for his minimalist style. Dewain Valentine was born in Fort Collins, Colorado in the year 1936.
The artist was inspired by modern painters including Larry Bell and Ken Price.
Many sculptures are made of fiberglass and/or resin. For subject matter Valentine often refers to skies. Valentine is sometimes associated with the Light and Space movement.
Valentine helped to develop a special resin that for the first time allowed artists to work with sculptures larger than 50 pounds. Valentine also prefers a very smooth finish, to give the appearance of being new and machine built.
Below the surface of Valentine’s work is discussed in further detail with more examples shown:
The artist is based out of Gardena, California.
Valentine is part of the collections of the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Denver Museum of Art.
The artist is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Price range information: Large disks by Valentine can reach the $1 million dollar mark. Smaller table top size works range from a few thousand to $35,000.
Valentine gives the viewer a wonderful combination of basic geometric shapes with cutting edge materials that he helped to invent! A wonderful example of modern art.
Walter Darby Bannard is an American painter and print maker renown for his minimalist style. Walter Darby Bannard was born in New Haven, Connecticut in the year 1934.
Bannard attended Princeton University located in Princeton, New Jersey.
The artist has taught at the collegiate level at many institutions including the School of Visual Arts located in New York City, and the University of Miami in Florida.
In this clip a brief interview with Darby Bannard from the University of Miami:
His career began using basic geometric shapes, especially the circle. As he grew as an artist he became looser and freer in his application of paint producing work with organic shapes.
Bannard was an innovator as far as using new mediums on the market. His monumental works of the 1960s and 1970s were often made with acrylic paint mixed with gels and resin. He has also worked with watercolors.
Over his career the artist has had more than 100 solo exhibitions of his work.
Bannard is included in museum collections at the Georges Pompidou Centre located in Paris, France and the Whitney Museum of American Art located in New York City.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
From a design standpoint I enjoy the artist’s use of a mixture of shapes and his bright acrylic palette.
John McCracken was an American minimalist artist. John McCracken was born in Berkeley, California the year 1934. The artist was a painter and sculptor.
The artist served in the United States Navy before attending the California College of Arts and Crafts located in Oakland, California.
John McCracken’s art is the first one shown in this clip of famous artists of the 1960s:
McCracken also taught at the University of California at Irvine, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in addition to other colleges.
The artist is a past recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In this clip we visit a show from 2008 featuring the work of John McCracken:
The artist was always experimenting with new materials and was among the first artist to work with fiberglass and resin.
In this clip we view some of the artist’s signature works from the 1960s to the 2000s:
John McCracken passed away in 2011, at the age of 76.
The artist is part of many prestigious collections including the Smithsonian.
Price range information: Works range from $100,000 to $500,000 for sculpture works. Prints start at $5,000. Original watercolors and oils range from $5,000 to $20,000.
What a great example of modernist art. From his materials to his use of bright colors and simple clean shapes.
Anne Truitt was an American artist renown for her minimalist sculptures. Anne Truitt was born in Easton, Maryland in the year 1921. Truitt attended college at Bryn Mawr where she earned a degree in psychology. She served as a nurse in World War 2.
After the war was finished she left the field of nursing and began sculpting figures.
Shortly after she began to work more abstractly producing the wood box sculptures with bright flat color we associate with Truitt. After applying the paint she sanded the surface, trying to remove any brush strokes.
Below we view a show featuring Anne Truitt from 2013 that features some monumental works from the 1970s. :
The artist also created pedestals and stands for her sculptures to sit on so that they appear to float in air and have a slight cast shadow.
Truitt also wrote three books over her lifetime that were journals that covered her life as an artist. Below an excerpt from one of her books:
Anne Truitt passed away in 2004 at the age of 83 years of age.
Price range information: Works range from $10,000 to $150,000. Truitt worked mainly with acrylics.
Its great that Truitt had the idea to write journals of a daily life as an artist. I hope more artists follow in her footsteps. Her minimalist sculptures remind me of the changing weather of the different seasons.
Richard Artschwager was an American painter, sculptor, and furniture designer who participated in many movements over his career including Pop Art, Minimalist Art, Conceptual Art. Richard Artschwager was born in Washington D.C. in the year 1923. His family had emigrated from Europe to the United States.
His family was very educated his father being a botanist and his mother took art and design lessons at the Corcoran School of Art. Artschwager would attend Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York where he studied math and chemistry. His war service in World War Two interrupted his education but the artist would finish with a degree of physics.
Artschwager also created his own simple modernist furniture. He was even commissioned by the Catholic Church to make portable altars that could be used on various types of vessels and ships. Much of his work was done using wood and formica.
In this clip we view the artist at work:
Richard Artschwager passed away in 2013 at the age of 89 years of age.
Price range information: Works range from $5,000 to $1 million dollars. The artist worked often with acrylics, gouache, aluminum, etching, and charcoal.
Here we visit a show that took place at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City with our dear friend James Kalm:
Artshwager’s work can be found in the Museum of Modern Art located in New York City, and also European Museums including the Tate.
The artist was great at experimenting and finding new ways to express himself. In the 1980s and 1990s the artist took on many studio assistants and was highly productive producing furniture and sculpture work. His work during this period of his life reminds me of contemporary artist Jeff Koons.
Myron Stout was an American artist renown for his abstract and minimalist paintings. Myron Stout was born in Denton, Texas in the year 1908.
Stout is perhaps best known for his minimalist works featuring geometric shapes and were painted in black and white. In this clip we view some works from the late 1950s with his style. If you have some extra time watch the entire clip to see some other abstract artists including Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol, and Peter Haley. The segment showing the work of Myron Stout begins at 1:45 into the clip. It features some of his minimalist works painted in black and white that sometimes took years to finish:
The artist was highly influenced and also educated by painter Hans Hofmann.
Myron Stout passed away in 1987.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Stout is included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art both located in New York City.
I find both the minimalist and color works equally fascinating for their sense of design. The black and white works show great creativity in the formation of the shapes. His color works have a wonderful sense of movement and fantastic use of color.
Virginia Stroud is an Native American artist renown for her paintings of the female figure. Virginia Stroud was born in Madera, California in the year 1951. Stroud is of Cherokee and Creek descent was raised in Oklahoma with a Kiowa background.
Stroud attended Bacone Junior College located in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She went on to attend the University of Oklahoma located in Norman. She studied elementary education and art.
The artist has won numerous awards from Native American Art appreciation organizations.
Stroud works in oils and acrylics and is also an avid printmaker.
Price range information: No pricing available on originals. Prints can be found from $50 to $500.
I enjoy the minimalist aspect of Stroud’s artwork. Though she doesn’t paint facial features, we get a feeling of the emotional pitch of her figures from the depictions of their bodies. Her horses are also very simple and elegant.
Denise Kupferschmidt is an American artist renown or his minimalist works involving the figure. Denise Kupferschmidt was born in Princeton, New Jersey in the year 1979. The artist attended the Massachusetts College of Fine Art located in Boston.
The artist is capable of working in many mediums and often exhibits drawings, paintings, and sculpture work. She is also an avid printmaker.
Below we visit a show featuring Kupferschmidt. Her works are shown at the 1:18 mark in the clip:
What a wonderful way to depict the figure. With the black and white format used on most of her paintings its easy for the viewer to think they are looking at one of Matisse’s contemporaries rather than someone born in 1979.
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