Robert Hodge is an contemporary African- American artist renown for his artwork featuring typography and collages. Robert Hodge studied at the Pratt Institute and the Atlanta College of Art.
Hodge is based out of Houston, Texas.
Many of the artists that inspire Hodge have been profiled here already including Basquiat, Glen Ligon, Mark Bradford, and Andy Warhol.
What inspires me about this artist is his way with words. He often quotes historical figures in his work, one of my favorite lines he speaks often was originated by Frederick Douglas, without struggle there is no progress.
Hodge was once asked the most important activity for an artist to do, his response was “read.” Wonderful, and congratulations to you for ending up at this site to read about art and become a better artist!
Patrick Brill, also known as Bob and Roberta Smith, is a British artist renown for his art which uses typography and a poster format. Patrick Brill was born in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom in the year 1963. His father was a professional landscape artist named Frederick Brill.
Brill attended the University of Reading where he earned a bachelors degree. The artist went on to earn a masters degree from GoldsmithsCollege.
Brill is more commonly known as Bob and Roberta Smith.
His wife, Jessica Voorsanger, is also an artist and an advocate for exposing people with learning disabilities to art.
Brill is associate professor at London Metropolitan University.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
The artist works in acrylics and printmaking. The artist has also recently been working with sculpture.
In this clip an interview with the artist:
Below we view a brief documentary from the Tate about Bob and Roberta Smith:
This artist reminds me of Stephen Powers for his use of color and text.
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.
Deborah Kass is an American artist renown or her art which combines bold color and typography. Kass has also done works similar to Warhol’s Pop Art style. Deborah Kass was born in the year 1952.
Its no wonder the artist was heavily influenced by Andy Warhol, Kass also attended Carnegie Mellon University. The same alma mater as Warhol.
Kass is based out of Brooklyn, New York.
Much of the artist’s work is based on celebritie,pop culture, and her political views.
Kass is included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Art both located in New York City.
Price range information: Works range from $5,000 for a silkscreen print up to $80,000 for an original.
In this clip a brief interview with Deborah Kass:
We visit a gallery show featuring Kass with our friend James Kalm in 2007:
What a great use of color and letters. If you enjoy this work be sure and check out other letter artists such as Robert Cottingham, Mel Bochner, and Sister Mary Corita Kent. Kass work reminds me a great deal of the work of Kent.
Xavier Bueno was a fantastic painter working with the figure and typography in his own unique style. Xavier Bueno was born in the year 1915 in Vera Di Bidasoa, Spain. His father was a journalist and writer.
Bueno attended the Academy of San Fernando located in Madrid, Spain. The artist also studied in Geneva, Switzerland.
He had a brother named Antonio who was also an artist.
The works of Bueno that received the best critical acclaim were his paintings of children that took place from 1959 to the mid 1960s. These works have a wonderful artistic appeal as the works show great design with the occasional typography thrown in. Like a Kathe Kollwitz etching the children’s emotions in these images seem to pour out to the viewer.
Xavier Bueno passed away in 1979.
Price range information: Works range from $10,000 to $100,000. The artist worked mainly in oils.
Bueno is one of my favorite artist’s working with kids and children’s faces. The children are so expressive.
Sister Mary Corita Kent was a fantastic artist and educator. Sister Mary Kent was born with the name Francis Elizabeth Kent in Fort Dodge Iowa in the year 1918. Kent’s favorite medium was the silkscreen. The artist had a wonderful sense of color and used her outstanding drawing skills to produce some of the happiest art found in the 1960s and 1970s.
Kent attended the Chouinard Institute located in Los Angeles, California and earned a BA from the Immaculate Heart College also located in California. The Immaculate Heart College was a private Catholic Institution that has been closed for quite some time. Kent was also a teacher at this institution for periods of time.
Kent went on to earn an MA from the University of Southern California.
Something I am sure the Pop Artist Robert Indiana took note of, Sister Mary produced the first LOVE stamp in 1985. Indiana is renown for his work with letters and also has created large sculptures using the word love.
Kent quit teaching and also her order of nuns in 1968 to become a full time professional artist. At this time she relocated from Los Angeles to Boston, Massachusetts on the east coast of the United States.
In 2009 a documentary film was made about Sister Mary Corita Kent. Here we view a short excerpt from this movie which includes original footage of the artist at work in the 1960s:
Price range information: Works range from $400 for a screen print to $4,000 for an original watercolor.
As an artist she worked painting murals, illustrating book covers, posters, and her own serigraph prints. In her own prints the artist often mixed popular consumer slogans alongside her own thoughts and beliefs.
Kent is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum which are both located in New York Ciy.
Sister Mary Kent passed away in 1986 at the age of 67 years of age.
I enjoy the warm and positive feelings I get from looking at the work of Sister Mary Kent. In this clip a great interview with the artist just four years before she passed away from cancer:
Rob Wynne is an American artist who works with mirrored and poured glass often and often uses typography and letters as a subject. Wynne was born in New York City in the year 1950.
Wynne attended the Pratt Institute located in New York City.
Wynne is part of many prestigious collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Art both located in New York City.
Wynne is a master of the medium creating wonderful vessels and also his very unique typography works. My favorite works of the artist include typography. His own style of typography is a wonderful style that reminds me of urban art and street artists like the French artist Tilt.
Price range information: Works range from $2,000 to $24,000.
David Austen is a very creative artist with no limits on his imagination or the type of art he creates. Austen has worked in many well acclaimed series including glass objects, a filmmaker , and his latest works which use typography and lettering as the main subject matter.
Austen paints in oils and watercolors.
In this clip Austen shares a few secrets in his creative process using watercolors:
David Austen was born in Harlow, Essex, England in the year 1960.
Austen is well schooled having attended the Royal Academy of Art located in London, England. The artist also studied at the Maidstone College of Art located in Kent, England and Kingston University in London, England.
price range information: Sorry none available.
I hope this artist stays with using letters and typography as a focus. He paints oils on flax canvas for his works using text.
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.
L’Atlas is a great street artist based out of Paris, France born in the year 1978. L’Atlas style is a blend of abstraction and typography, the art of the letter.
L’Atlas began doing graffiti as a youngster and would eventually study many different styles of typography. I have posted about typography many times as the Microsoft version of Helvetica seems to be everywhere, L’Atlas is a throwback to the days when typography and calligraphy were true arts. Many schools are don’t even teach cursive anymore.
If you enjoy text be sure and check out my posts on Mel Bochner and Robert Cottingham.
L’Atlas loves calligraphy!
In this clip a great interview with the artist:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Another amazing street artist that is very creative with their artwork!
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