Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons is mostly known for his sculpture work, but I personally enjoy his paintings far more than his sculptural work. I like the collage style he uses with the different images and the rendering of the images. Looking at the paintings, they look photo realistic.

jeffkoons.com

Mark Michaelson

Michaelson has collected around 10,000 mugshots. He acquired the mug shots through ebay, auctions, and a retired cop. Michaelson originally intended to keep his collection private, but has now shown his mug shots at a gallery in New York and has published a book.  Michaelson's collection steers clear of big-time notorious criminals, and focuses on America's Least Wanted.

"Girl at the Window"

Artist: Roy Lichtenstein

This was a mural done by Lichtenstein in 1964. It is 24x24ft.

Lichtensein has been a great influence on my personal art. What I like most about his work is the way he transforms a simple comic book picture into a larger piece of art. I also like how when the picture is taken from the comic book, the viewer can create their own story or interpretation of the picture as opposed to reading the story in the comic book. I have always found Lichtenstein's work appealing. Even though the paintings seem simple, the display great emotion and are fantastic at telling a story.

Star Wars Sugar Skulls

Artist: Jose Pulido

I chose this artist because I like Star Wars and I am a fan of the art of Dia De Los Muertos. Recently sugar skulls and Mexican folk art have started to become pop art. I like what has Pulido has done with his work because he has taken two different cultures and combined them into one really fantastic concept and has added a new twist to the somewhat overplayed sugar skull.

Laurie Lipton

"Black and white is the color of ancient photographs and old TV shows… it is the color of ghosts, longing, time passing, memory, and madness. Black and white ached. I realized that it was perfect for the imagery in my work.”

-Laurie Lipton


laurielipton.com

Zeng Fanzhi

 

 

 

Zeng Fanzhi's "Mask Series 1996 No. 6" sold for  $9,703,490. This is a record for Chinese contemporary art! 

Zeng Fanzhi's paintings appeal to me because they express political and psychologicial issues. I like how the artist is able to create such expressive paintings. The people portrayed in his work seem very expressive and possibly insane. This can especially be seen in his portrait of Mao, which directly adresses Tiananmen Square.

Dave Kinsey

I first saw Kinsey's work  on the tv show Rob and Big. When I watched the show, I kept noticing these two large paintings in the background. Turns out they were Kinsey's. I like Kinsey's work because he uses a variety of different media forms to create his works. I also enjoy the street art aspect of his work.  I find that his work illustrates urban life in a very unique way.


www.kinseyvisual.com

Ray Pettibon

Pettibon's work combines lose sketches with written text. I like his work because he uses minimal color, and interesting combinations of line and shadow. I like when artist combine both image and text, to me, doing this adds to the overall meaning of a piece and can also give insight into what the artist intentions were for making a certain piece.

www.raypettibon.com

Robert Williams

Robert Williams teamed up with Santa Cruz Skateboards and created a series of decks called "Malicious". The decks feature some of William's well known works. William's has also collaborated with Vans releasing a series of shoes. Robert Williams is known for his awesomely grotesque surreal art. I like when artist work with clothing and other companies and release products that feature their art. To me, when artist do this, the art becomes accessible to a larger audience and people who normally could only see certain pieces in galleries can now take their favorite artist's work home.

Sadism or Art?

Damien Hirst's butterly collages are known for their elaborate beauty and also for the fact that each is composed of real butterflies. Of course, PETA was livid with Hirst's use of the butterflies. The organization called him a "Sadist". I feel that Hirst collages aren't cruel, I'm sure Hirst doesn't make these pieces for the sole purpose of killing poor innocent butterflies. The butterfly collages make a strong statement about life and death.

Gary Panter

Panter was raised in Texas and attended east Texas State University. He moved to LA in 1977 and began working in painting, comics, design, and commercial imagery.  During the 1980's, Panter created flyers and posters for bands like the Germs and the Screamers. He created comics like Elvis Zombies and Jimbo. Panter also designed sets and puppets for Pee Wee's Playhouse. After the 80's Panter began developing light shows in his studio space.  Panter has collaborated with Joshua White; the pair have light shows at Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. and at New York’s Anthology Film Archives. 

I chose Panter's work because I like his style, of course, and how his work seems to use the combination of color and line to exude energy. Panter has been called the "King of Punk Art" and the "King of the Preposterous", which is evident in his work.

garypanter.com

   

Cover for The Red Hot Chili Peppers self titled album

                                                       Invasion of the Elvis Zombies

                                                           Poster for a light show

 Last Glare, Acrylic on Canvas, 2010