Sunday, March 29, 2009

Art That Shaped Me


Artists that forever changed how I look at art and the world around me (clockwise from top right):

1. Wassily Kandinsky is probably my favorite artist of all time. I could sit and look at his paintings like Improvisation 31, for hours. He intuitively knows just where to brush the right colors on the canvas. I spent much of college trying to infuse that sense of color and freedom into my paintings.

2. Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, is not only a masterpiece of color theory and optical tricks but it is chock full of hidden meanings about the upper class. I was shocked to learn in art history class that the monkey in front of the woman is a symbol that she is a prostitute.

3. You gotta love Giotto. He has the most beautiful emotions on people's faces especially in this Lamentation painting. Not bad for the year 1303.

4. Andy Goldsworthy taught me to look at nature in a new way. Leaves, sticks, and rocks are art materials full of color and form. Create something beautiful and leave it for nature to destroy.

5. As a child I used to play this art auction board game with my cousin. We always fought over who would get On the Terrace by Pierre-Auguste Renior. To me, it depicted how life should be for a little girl, full of color, beauty, and fun hats.

6. Van Gogh's Starry Night is the only painting I've ever cried at when I saw it in person. Amazing. You literally want to stick your hand out and run it over every ridge in the paint.

7. Monet's Impression: Sunrise is the painting that started my favorite movement in art, Impressionism. You can't beat those blues with a hint of orange.

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