Mary Frank is a contemporary American artist renown for her painting, printmaking, photography, and work with ceramics. Mary Frank was born in London, England in the year 1933. Her family relocated to the United States after World War 2. Frank’s work often uses the figure and landscape as her subject matter.
Her mother was a visual artist from United States named Eleanore Lockspieser and her father was an art critic and musicologist from England named Edward Lockspeiser.
Frank studied at the American Art School in New York City. The artist also studied with other notable artists including a famous wood carver named Alfred Van Loan.
Below short documentary on Mary Frank featuring some of her artwork:
Price range information: Most works priced between $2,000 and $20,000.
The artist has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship on two occasions.
Frank is part of many prominent collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of New York City, and the Library of Congress.
If you enjoy Frank’s work be sure and check out my post on a sculptor from Peru named Margarite Checa. Checa works with the female form and uses wood that comes from her native land.
Ralph Gibson is an American photographer. Gibson is renown for his work with the figure and use of shadows. Ralph Gibson was born in Los Angeles, California in the year 1939.
Gibson served in the United States military. Gibson would go on to study photography at the San Francisco Art Institute.
The artist is part of the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum and Museum of Modern Art.
Gibson has won many awards for his work including fellowships from the Guggenheim and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gibson also created his own publishing company and has published many books of his photography work.
In this clip a brief montage of works by Ralph Gibson:
Price range information: Most works priced between $1,000 and $10,000.
Gibson has a remarkable sense of design when it comes to seeing the abstract shapes and cast shadows of the female form. Another photographer who has uses the female form for subject matter is Ruth Bernhard.
David Maisel is an American photographer renown for his aerial shots of the American landscape taken from an airplane. David Maisel was born in New York City in the year 1961.
In this brief clip we view some wonderful aerial shots of mines taken by Maisel. I enjoy the abstract quality of these works.:
Maisel received a great collegiate education first earning a B.F.A. from Princeton University. He went on to graduate studies first at Harvard before earning a M.F.A. from the California College of the Arts.
In this clip David Maisel talks about shooting imagery that dealt with death.:
Grand Mudford is an Australian photographer renown for his imagery with architecture. Grant Mudford was born in Sydney, Australia in the year 1944.
Mudford attended the University of New South Wales for one year before opening his own commercial photography studio. His work appeared in many fashion magazines.
The artist won a photography fellowship from the United States’ National Endowment for the Arts.
Mudford gained a great deal of attention in the United States for series of images he made in the early 1990s. The series featured Mudford’s photographs of the famed architect Louis Kahn.
In this clip we view a montage of works by Grant Mudford:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Below a clip from a talk given by the artist at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art:
If you enjoy architecture as a main subject be sure and check out my post on the husband and wife photography duo of Bernd and Hilla Becher.
Charles Ray is an American sculptor and photographer renown for his work with the figure. Charles Ray was born in Chicago, Illinois in the year 1953. Ray attended the University of Iowa where he earned a BFA. The artist went on to earn a MFA from Rutgers University.
One artist that Ray drew inspiration from was the Constructivist Anthony Caro.
Ray has also spent much of his career as head of the sculpture department at the University of California at Los Angeles. Ray began this post in 1981.
The artist has a wide range of styles he likes to work in from realism to minimalism. For realism he has created many works that include multiple figures and even an automobile just after it was in an accident.
Below we visit a show featuring Charles Ray that took place in 2014:
Ray has been awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In this clip we view an exhibition for the Charles Ray that took place at the Art Institute of Chicago:
Ray is now based out of Los Angeles, California.
Price range information: Ray’s works range from $50,000 to $750,000. He is a highly collected sculptor and photographer.
Chris Burden was an American sculptor, conceptual, and performance artist who got shot and nailed to a car all for art! Chris Burden was born in Boston, Massachusetts in the year 1946.
In one of his best acclaimed series of performance art Chris Burden takes over television. Back in the beginning days of television it didn’t seem a regular person could appear on tube and its 3 channels.
Burden actually bought air time and challenged the idea of local programming. Here are his commercials from the 1970s that actually appeared on tv!:
The artist attended Pomona College located in Claremont, California earning a B.F.A. Burden also attended the University of California at Irvine where he earned a M.F.A. and studied with abstract artist Robert Irwin.
Burden often included architecture and bridges in his artwork.
Burden also enjoyed creating large metropolis cities that were similar to Los Angeles out of model toys and cars.
In this clip we see Chris Burden get shot. The artist grew up during the violent periods of the 1960s and Vietnam war. Here we witness Chris Burden get shot in the left arm by his assistant.:
Chris Burden passed away in May of 2015 at the age of 69.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Below we catch up with artistic amigo James Kalm. We visit a show featuring Chris Burden and his famous piece titled the Big Wheel from a show that took place in 2013:
Burden was a fascinating artist capable of working in any medium. I enjoy his film works from the 1960s and 1970s the most. With the use of 8mm and 16mm film these works have wonderful home movie feel to them.
Damian Ortegá is a contemporary artist renown for his large installations, photography, and video art. Damian Ortegá was born in Mexico City, Mexico in the year 1967.
Ortegá spent time as a political cartoonist. This shows up in his skill for finding unique patterns and shapes in his designs.
The artist studied in the atelier of famed Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco.
In this clip we view a work by Damian Ortega with the title ,” Controller of the Universe” The show began in late 2014:
Ortegá is based out of Mexico City, Mexico and also Berlin, Germany.
Price range information: Photographs can be found between $10,000 and $25,000. No pricing available for sculpture works.
Below we visit a show featuring Damian Ortegá that took place in 2009:
His large works that show items that are dissected take me back to the days of my childhood. Before “You tube” and the Do It Yourself network a person was to assemble something complex from a drawing/ painting that looked exactly like one of these installations. Very creative!
Franco Fontana is a modern Italian photographer renown for his works that consist of basic geometric shapes. Franco Fontana was born in Modena, Italy in the year 1933. The artist also creates paintings from time to time.
The artist has seen his work used in the music industry for album covers.
In this clip a great interview with Fontana. We also accompany the artist to an outdoor landscape shoot:
Fontana has worked in many genres including the human figure, landscapes, and fashion. For most of his work he relied on 35 mm cameras.
The artist has enjoyed a great deal of commercial success and has seen his work appear in advertising campaigns of the nations largest companies over his lengthy career.
His works can be found in more than 60 museums around the globe.
Price range information: Most works range from $1,000 to $10,000.
My favorite works of this artist are his images of the female figure shot with the basic shapes seen in the swimming pool.
We close by checking out some Fontana’s wonderful landscape imagery:
Aakash Nihalani is an American artist renown for his installations that are made of colored tape. Nihalani attended New York University where he began his collegiate career studying law before switching to art and earning a B.F.A.
In this clip we view a show and brief interview with Nihalani:
Aakash Nihalani was born in Queens, New York in the year 1986.
Below we view Nihalani complete an installation work that brings a touch of art to a stop sign:
I enjoy Nihalani’s use of basic geometric shapes and their dimensions as works of art. His use of colors and play of dimensions is a wonderful and unique style of art that translates into awesome gallery or street works.
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