Posts Tagged ‘School of the Museum of Art Boston’

Artist of the moment……Ellen Gallagher

Ellen Gallagher is an African- American artist born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1965. Her mother was African- American and her father a success Irish boxer.

price range information: Just this year Ellen Gallagher had a work sell for $987,000 at auction. Though she works in many mediums the output isn’t enough to make a consistent price schedule. Instead I will list the many mediums she employs in her art. Photography, film, oils, gouache, woodcuts, and acrylics.

To make an artistic point of view of racism in her work she chose to do some artwork that represented the souls of African slaves lost at sea in their voyage to the United States.

Has been the sitter for a tapestry by famed American Artist Chuck Close.

For her collegiate studies Ellen Gallagher attended Oberlin College in Ohio. Gallagher than attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. For her postgraduate studies Gallagher attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine.

A major influence on the artist was Agnes Martin. Below an example of her style.

Another major influence was the artist/ writer Gertrude Stein. Gallagher enjoyed the way Stein used text in her art. Below an example of Gertrude Stein’s artwork.

In 1995, Gallagher’s work was exhibited at the Whitney Biennial.

In 2003 participated in the Venice Biennial.

Ellen Gallagher loves to work with film. In this clip she talks about her childhood and the influence of film in her life.  From the great PBS series ART 21.

In this clip we learn more about her collage and multimedia approach using repetition and revision in the process. Many varieties of techniques are used. She even talks about recurring characters such as Pegleg.

A link for some great examples of photographs by the artist. Here she uses a gelatin silver print and adds watercolor and gold leaf for dazzling effect!

http://www.gagosian.com/artists/ellen-gallagher/

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Artists of the moment….Photographers Doug and Mike Starn…..

Douglas and Mike Starn are two identical twins are known for their vast production in the field of photography.  What is most interesting about their technique is the vastness of their prints. Many prints of say a tree are for example 6 by 8 feet. The end picture is made of several smaller panels, similar to a triptych or diptych.

The twins were born in New Jersey in the year 1961. For their artistic education the twins attended the  School of the Musuem of Art Boston. The two were able to complete a five year program in only four years!

Below is a great example of the Starns photography works.

Price range information:  The most expensive work of the artist are the photographs from the Blot Out the Sun series. Number 3 sold for $50,000. These prints are a very large size.  Prints can be found starting around $1,000. The brothers have also completed collages which start around $500. The two are masters at their chosen medium so many different prints like gelatin silver or cibachrome prints can be found.

First major exhibition was the Whitney Biennial in 1987. The two have already put in 50 years combined in their chosen medium of photograpy! Like two Ansel Adams at once.

The Starn brothers also received a great deal of attention for a show that took place in 2010 on the roof the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The show was titled Big Bambu and the show had some amazing numbers. Their show was the fourth worldwide in attendance for an art show featuring contemporary works of art. Below is a clip featuring the artists at the Met.

In 1989 the brothers made the move to Red Hook, Brooklyn from Boston. Now they reside in Beacon, New York.

For me its a very exciting time in an artist’s life when they get their first public commission. In this clip we see and watch their brothers work on their first public commmission.

If you enjoy photography as an art form please be sure and read check out another wonderful duo of photographers McDermott and McGough. David McDermott and Peter McGough both paint, work in film, sculpture, and photography. The two split their time in Dublin, Ireland and New York City. I enjoy looking at their photographs because they use time period processes. This would be methods from the 1800s such as cyanotype and gum bichromate. The two are known to dress up in clothes from the 1800s. Below is a photograph of the two in 1860’s time period costumes.

McDermott & McGough ~ Portrait of the Artists (With Top Hats) 1865, 1991

Make it a point to learn about  all forms of art.

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