I have recently returned from teaching a workshop on Personal Expression. I help artists explore and search for deeper meaning in their art. They participate in many exercises and activities and one of them involves answering questions about themselves. One of the questions I ask the artists/participants is: Who are the artists you admire, and why? I believe the answers can help discover what an artist is thinking, and more about their aesthetics and how other artists influence their own work. For myself, I am attracted to subdued colors, textures, mark making, circles, dots, minimal or limited palettes. I also am very attracted to art that expresses a more personal concept or feeling. And I love work that is quirky or unique or different. Here are a few artists whose works I have been attracted to for many years or who I have just recently discovered.
Franz Kline (1910-1962) is famous for his black and white abstractions. His expressive calligraphic lines and bold contrast of color is well known in museums and in books.
Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) was a realist painter. His favorite subjects were the land and people around him, that he was most familiar with. His love for both shines through in his subdued colors and subtle textures. You can find his work in museums and in books.
Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) began as an abstract expressionist. He evolved into a figurative and still life painter, and eventually came back to abstraction ending with his Ocean Park series. You can find his paintings in museums and books on his life and works.
Geoffrey Gorman works with wire, bones, paper, and found objects to create his whimsical animals and birds. You can find his work at his website here and at the Jane Sauer gallery here.He writes in his statement "Found and lost objects assembled into curious and evocative shapes is what excites me." Me too.
Gary Weidner is a minimalist painter who uses a limited palette, marks, and subtle textures.You can find his work at his website here, and at a number of galleries including the Gruen Gallery in Chicago.
Leonor Anaya works with clay, incorporating subtle textures and subdued colors. You can find more of her work at Reece galleries here.
Hisako Sekijima works with natural fibers, twisting, binding and tying. She has a book available at Amazon.com and you can find more of her work here.
"Art is creative for the sake of realization, not for amusement: for transfiguration, not for the sake of play. It is the quest of our self that drives us along the eternal and never-ending journey we must all make. -- Max Beckmann
