Who Is Your Favourite Artist?Artist's And Why?

I like my art,not just like it but appreciate too!

Landscapes are a favourite,English artist John Constable comes to mind always,especially "The Hay Wain" which has just been damaged by a nutter in the UK, hence this article,he glued a photo of a young boy onto the canvas,what a mug.But unlike a photo,when its gone,its really gone!

Albert Namatjira is another brilliant landscape artist but his paint medium was water based not oil like Constable.

Namatjira's art is delicate and his colours almost faded,against Constable who was more bold and his brush strokes deliberate,and Constable could paint "an angry sky" perfectly,an art form on its own.

Portraits too i like and my favourite here is the great Dutch artist Johannes Ver Meer,who mainly only painted women,but his most famous work "The Girl With A Pearl Earring" was just one of many great works.

And of course Surrealism,and Salvador Dali springs into my mind,what a strange odd character he was.

And the great Australian artists especially "The Heildelberg School" artists from the 19th century,all brilliant and too numerous to name but Streeton,Roberts and McCubbin come to mind.

And my favourite Blue Mountains artist Norman Lindsay,his home and studio at Faulconbridge,I spent a lot of time there just wandering around,seeing something new that I missed on the last visit.

Excellent stuff!

Who do you like?

 

billy

13 comments

Darcy Doyle for me ,never seen a Doyle I didn't like ,altough I admit ,I do not know a lot about the subject .I look at things that folk rave about,and aclaim the artist as a genius ,and I scratch my head an wonder why, to me the grandkids did  better as 4 yr olds             

He's a damn good artist D'arcy Doyle,I really like his stuff,he seems to take you back inside your own head,to when you were a kid,I always wondered how he did it,make everything look almost "twee" if thats the word.

You dont need to know anything about art neither,I dont,I just like what "I" like.

billy

Mine is Turner, the way he uses light I just love it and one can use ones' own imagination to what is seen. Constable very different, because they are generally serene. Dali I like in a weird kind of way as he is quite fascinating in the way he forms his subjects.

Yes Joseph Turner was brilliant too,i liked his painting of the Battle of Trafalgar and another I think called Light and Colour,was about Moses anyway.

All good artists,everyone has different tastes,thats the way it should be.

billy

I am not up in Art as much as you seem to be Billy however I am one that just knows what I like--I have forgotten the names of some--but they were landscapes --

I also know which ones I don't like -- ie Picasso -- mostly seemed strange to me--also the likes of Rembrandt I wouldn't like in my home --great paintings but mostly very dark. I guess everyone sees Art differently, I am not into Abstract Art, maybe because I don't understand it, ie --the likes of "Blue Poles" seems crazy to me. The bloke in Sydney --for the life of me I can't think of his name--he has a moe -- and he does very childish (IMO) of the Sydney Harbour --I can not see his talent at all. I am sure to think of many others.

The best way to appreciate art,as I do,is to enjoy what you like,whatever floats your boat,thats what its all about,I know bugger all about art,but I know what I like to look at! and appreciate.

Too many people try to make art out to be"haughty taughty" and have an I'm better than the average person attitude because "they know about form,light,composition" what a lot of crap too,art is art,a bit of colour on board or canvas or paper arranged in a way to appeal to the viewer.

A picture is for people to look at and decide if its what they like,Im sure the artist wouldent give a damn really if people like their work or not,they liked it,thats what matters,and I'm not a fan of Cubism and Abstract neither,does nothing for me,but arty types will argue the point all day and try baffle you with 'Bull...t",at the end of the day its the viewer that decides if a work appeals to them or not,got nothing to do with anyone but you,the viewer.

billy

I agree totally Billy

I'm glad you agree because its what art is,some so called artists will try and convince you that what they produce is "Art",its not a lot of the time,I know what art is and so do you PlanB,but a lot of what I see is definately not art at all,its something else entirely!

I know a few artists,here in WA and NSW,one guy sculpts wood,his stuff gets put in Galleries and he gets private commisioned work,when i look at his work,actually touch it,all i see and feel is a bit of wood cut and chiselled a certain way,I used to argue with him about form all the time.We know what art is and thats that.

billy

Wonderful topic Billy.

Me, I like Caravaggio (1571- 1610)    I recon that he is a great painter in all respects.

And it's not just my opinion,  a jolly good movie was made about his life.

Maybe I am a bit of an oddball, but during my last trip to Italia, I tried to view as many Caravaggio paintings as I could do in a single day.  

I tell you what..  It was a day to remember.

The oddest thing happened outside a chiesa where three (count them !) Caravagio paintings are on view high upon the three walls surrounding the chapel, all in dark gloom.Gloomy as can be , but lit up on the deposit of a small coin into a slot.

Outside this place were two beggermen. who accosted me in rather good English to give them alms.  Which I did do with manner and good grace.

And, surprising to them, I engaged them  in converation.  Io parlo ialiano bene.

Turns out. They were recovering drug addicts, they showed me the tracts and the tatts.....

And that they had to pay someone for the privilage to beg in such a place.

Phil

 

I am sure there was a TV show on either SBS or ABC and it was a Nun discussing art,it was a fantastic show but cant for the life of me remember it,bu she was doing this particular show on Titian and his works and who he influenced and I am sure Caravaggio was mentioned at length.

I like the old school painters,especially religious works,some of these people could make a painting look like a photo.

billy

Welcome Abby

Art and wine, s'posedly great ones do nothing for me I'm afraid , some pictures/paintings are nice to look at ,others not so and a $10 bottle of bubbly's as good as some champagne I've tasted. Even if I were a millionaire I'd never buy old paintings, lots of struggling young street artists whose works would look good on my walls and I'd rather support the living, must be a philistine! 

You have to like what appeals to you Maggs,not the person next to you,thats the point,what one person sees as art others dont,some art i hate looking at but its "supposed" to be good,I cant see it sometimes,talking paintings too,not sculptures.

I started the thread to see what people like,if you said you liked the art on a cornflake box thats fine,because it is art,someone somewhere has sat down and created it,look at Andy Warhol with his Campbell Soup tins,its all good.

billy

I like the impressionists it's not photographic art or is it modern art it's inbetweeny and gives an impression and the colours. I have a set of London scenes done in the impressionist manner which I love dearly.

I like the Impressionists too,mainly the French,Claude Monet is probably the most famous,or his style anyway,and I think everyone has heard of Paul Gauguin,He was the bloke who lived on an Island in the pacific somewhere,not sure if he was there at the start of the French Impressionist Movement or later.

They are all good artists in their own right,I watched a show on TV on SBC about an old building in Paris that is only for artists,a big apartment block where a famous artist lived and worked,twas a good show,I will look it up on google later.

billy

I should of mentioned Pierre Renoir too,but there are a lot.

Cant find what I was looking for on google,I may have it wrong and will look some more.

billy

The descriptions some give to a painting amuse me. As if they understand some deep meaning that Joe Blow cannot see as poor Joe is not educated enough.

Remember "modern art" which I failed to appreciate as I thought the artists must have been on some pretty good hallucination material.

The following is an example

huh

I prefer something I can relate to without being on drugs.

I actually like this fwed,I cant tell you why though,but it just sort of jumps right inside your eyeballs,I dont understand it but its to do with the fact it has a face.

But you are right,its like artists are superior to non artistic types,but its probably,being poor,hungry and drunk and stoned that makes em like that,they are a weird mob though.

billy

Fwed, Yeah. I like it also.

If it happens to be on sale right here, right now I would open at AUD 1000.

No joke.

 

Phil

I do appreciate having art explained so that I can better appreciate the time in which it was done. 

For instance I was in Milan in the early 70s and wandered in to see The Last Supper by Leonardo DV this was before the latest restoration. I looked at it and was not impressed and was about to walk out when I latched on to a tourist group with a guide. She explained that if you looked to the other end of the chapel you could see a painting done on the opposing wall done at the same time . She explained how flat this painting was and the depth and use of light in the last supper she was right and my appreciation went up accordingly.

One thing that amazes me about art/painting is how most artists can sit right on top of a big canvas and when its finished you stand right back to view it properly,most times everything is in perspective.

Linear perspective is getting a flat surface to look like it has three dimensions,its harder than it sounds,especially with colours,but they worked it out during the Rennaisance period in the 15th Century.

Its a bit like depth of field in photography,I like perspective,it seems to rearrange the brain optically.I watched a doco on SBS in the 90's about perspective and they used one of Vermeer's paintings,It was called "The Girl With The Wine Glass" and when you look at the picture you are immediatly attracted to the womans face,her eyes,they got lengths of blue cotton and put a thumb tack in her face and every cotton thread no matter where you placed the other end of the cotton on the edge of the painting always followed a straight line in the painting,a window sill,the skirting board etc,etc,you had no choice but to look at the girl,every part of that canvas and every straight line in the room forced you to look at her face,bloody brilliant!

billy

Gauguin, he lived in Tahiti.

 

Yes there is a lot of snobery around Wine and Art

 

I agree there is always merit in having someone explai things to you and makes it rather interesting

Yer see, its all about mastery of your idiom.  Like Mondrian who was not big on brushwork, but was jolly good with masking tape...

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