Happy Halloween everyone! Let’s take a look at some art celebrating this time of year!
First up we have some wonderful works by Jamie Wyeth.
And below two works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama:
This fine example of a pumpkin patch by artist Jess:
This work of pumpkin pie’s made by Wayne Thiebaud:
And here a work by Andy Warhol:
And this work by M.C. Escher:
Pumpkin carving has sure evolved since I was a young boy. In this clip we check out my favorite pumpkin caring artist Ray Villafane. This artist has been on many shows displaying his talents I first saw him on Martha Stewart. Here we view his appearance on the CBS Morning Show:
To close we take a closer look at Damien Hirst’s skull that is covered in diamonds:
Happy Halloween! One of my favorite genre’s is the collector and their house as art. In this work I wanted to celebrate visual artists who created something associated with my FAVORITE holiday!
Each panel is 9 by 12 inches. Medium is paper collage.
This is a diptych, a two panel work. As a child I loved to watch the Addams Family so I thought what other art pieces might exist in the house besides the fish with the human leg sticking out.
All artists have been written about on my website!
Pumpkin- Japanese master Yayoi Kusama.
Frakenstein- Vik Muniz, Frankenstein, caviar monster series. The artist recreated monsters using beluga caviar.
Vampire Mouth- Ruby Sterling
Pumpkin Head Man- Jamie Wyeth
Platinum skull- Damien Hirst
Witches Hat- Robert Therrien
Happy Halloween everyone and try to make some artwork to celebrate the holiday!
Martin Ramirez was a self taught artist born in the year 1895 in Mexico. Ramirez was a fantastic artist that ended up spending a great deal of his life in the mental institutions of California. Having not gone to art school and having a unique style I would compare to Keith Haring, Ramirez style was thought of as “outsider art” I prefer to think of it as street art before its time.
Ramirez worked with paper as his main surface, all of the pictures in the gallery were done on paper. He produced artwork for nearly thirty years of his life spent in various mental institutions.
Price range information: Most works are done in pencil or mixed media on paper and range from $30,000 to $140,000.
Ramirez was a first a normal family man with a wife and two kids that operated a ranch in Mexico. In 1925 he chose to come to the United States to find work and send money back home to Mexico. In 1931 he was hospitalized for the first time. He was placed at a hospital in Stockton, California first and moved in 1948 to a hospital in Auburn, California. It was in Auburn where he made most of his now famous and highly coveted collages and drawings.
His style is a mixture of Mexican and American folk art.
Ramirez passed away in 1963 at the age of 67 years old.
A short clip about the background of Ramirez. Interesting as our hostess makes some fantastic points about so called “outsider art.” The clip is from a show featuring the artist at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It also features some interesting facts about his technique such as using his saliva and paste from the kitchen to glue his works together.
Another artist that spent a great deal of time in mental hospitals would be Yayoi Kusama. Kusama was born in 1928 in Japan and is a master of many different artistic mediums including writing, sculpting, and painting. Kusama moved to New York city during the peak of abstract expressionism. She failed at her goal of becoming a great artist in the states. She moved back to Japan, concentrated on writing short stories, and checked herself into a hospital for the mentally ill. She has lived in the hospital since 1973. She has an easily recognizable style with her bold bright colors and dots. I have done a long post on her before as she is my favorite Japanese artist and what a unique story to boot. She still produces works to this day. Here is a signature work by Kusama and she has an artwork sell for more than 5 million u.s. dollars which is a record for a living female artist.
And this short video about the artist. She is very successful as a commercial artist and business woman with her easily recognizable style.
Don’t forget that Van Gogh was highly emotional and spent time in mental hospitals as well. Everyone in the world has something to offer the art world. These artists all looked through the world with their own very unique eyes.
Another artist I have written about has been in the news lately for his work of art using light on the San Francisco Bridge. His name is Leo Villareal.
The artist is a Japanese/ American that was born in 1926 in Norwalk, California. She is known for her organic shapes made with wire and other found materials. She was one of seven children. Her dad bought and sold trucks for a living. Then came World War Two and the family was moved to one of the Japanese Internment camps when Asawa was sixteen years old.
Asawa graduated high school whilst still at the internment center. She went on to college to become a teacher at the Milwaukee State Teacher’s College. She was unable to get hired for her student teaching work and left college without a degree. This degree was eventually given in 1998.
Asaway also studied with Josef Albers at the Black Mountain College located in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Asawa is a well established painter in San Francisco. The San Francisco School for the Arts was renamed the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School for the Arts in 2010. She is an iconic figure in the San Francisco community where you can see her some of her large public commissions.
She became a national figure in the art world after being part of several group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of Art in the 1950s.
Price range information on the artist: She is mainly a sculptor but has also done works in watercolor which can be found for less than five thousand dollars. Works in bronze are the most affordable in a range from $1,000 to $5,000. Ceramic works can be found around $1,000. Copper works can range from $30,000 top $278,000. Steel works can cost up to nearly $400,000.
A great example of her sculpture here.
A great example of a sculpture. You get a great feel for her use of shape.
In this clip from the San Jose Museum of Art we here from a curator about a show featuring Asawa.
In this clip we see a local San Francisco television station’s segment on the artist. She helped to lead a group in San Francisco, of which one of her sons is part of, of working artists into public schools. At around the seven minute mark you can see Ruth working on a collaboration with this son.
The artist reminds me of Yayoi Kusama for her great use of organic shapes. Kusama is a great artist who has lived much of her life in a mental facility, but that doesn’t stop her from creating wonderful works of art. Below is an example of Kusami’s art. She was born in 1929 and became a United States citizen in 1966. Below is a great example of her unique style. She is known for her abstract use of shape and her genre of gourds and pumpkins.
Another artist that comes to mind would be Ken Price. Price, who passed away in 2012, was a great artist who was known for his use of shapes with ceramics. Asawa and Price both do a great job of creating a shape that seems to have movement that never stops.
I think its important to remember the past. Asawa had a tough upbringing living in the internment camps, I imagine her as I child still playing and creating as all children do with their boundless energy. With the passing of the Senator from Hawaii Daniel Inouye a few weeks ago, it was a brief reminder of how asians were seen decades ago. With great examples like Ruth Asawa and Daniel Inouye it should be an example to all people, not only artists, of what is possible with the human mind! No matter how bad your current situation is, CREATE SOMETHING, put that nervous energy to great use!
A clip showing the many mediums used by the artist.
Sculpture and installations done by the artist.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to this artist today on March 22. She was born in 1929. One of the foremost artists of Japan working in a variety of visual mediums as well as writing.
low price range: for small pumpkin sculptures around 5,000 prints from 5,000 and up
high price range: for an acrylic she has garnered $5.1 million. This artist set the record for a living female artist at auction! Awesome!
The artist is highly collected and known for repetitious patterns and explosive color. Some of her favorite subjects are butterflies, flowers, and pumpkins. I just love the willingness of the artist to learn a new medium.
She was born in Japan to an upper middle class family. The artist was taught a strictly Japanese style way to paint and didn’t enjoy it. She studied American and European artists and moved to New York City. She became a fan of the Ab-Ex movement and did several works in this style during the 1950s. Her work stood next to the other great Pop Artists of the day such as Andy Warhol and George Segal.
Another theme of the artist is the dot. The artist gained some fame during the 1960s for organizing festivals where all the participants were naked save for painted polka dots.
In the early 1970s she moved back to Japan and became an art dealer. The country’s art scene wasn’t the same as New York. The artist’s business failed and she checked herself into a hospital on her own will for mental problems. She still lives in a hospital but went on to resume her artwork and published a series of books including an autobiography.
I find it inspiring that someone who is similar to Van Gogh in having mental issues, is so productive in her artistic output. Writing books, designing clothes, making video art, installations, and sculpture. It seems that she feels at ease when she is doing something artistic and you have to admire that!
Has had many shows at museums such as the Tate modern and Museum of Modern Art.
How about trying a different medium today in honor of this artist’s birthday!
Diattaart Blog 