Andy Warhol

Warhol was born in Pennsylvania, America and was a very successful magazine and ad illustrator who went on to become the leading artist of the 1960’s pop art movement. His artwork was first recognised when he painted ‘pop art’ paintings of Campbell’s Soup Cans. The subject of his paintings were mainly random objects associated with the 60’s and famous people such as celebrities that he painted using a wide variety of luminous colours, for example Marilyn Monroe as shown in the image above.

Warhol made use of the silkscreen technique while working with photographs he had taken which allowed him to take advantage of the endless variations each repeated image had. He felt as an artist that his artwork reflected the emptiness of American Material Culture and his emotional non-involvement with the practice of his art. He won multiple awards for his unique, vibrant style using his own blotting technique and rubber stamps to create his drawings and prints.

This blotted line technique allowed Warhol to create multiple images quickly and he was fascinated with the idea of mass production. He often experimented by placing prints one over another, aligning colours on a single image and having different colour combinations. In the later 1960’s, Warhol went on to become a filmmaker and was involved in the making of a Chelsea Girls as well as many others. He built an underground studio to live and work in for many years, that was decorated in silver paint and aluminium foil which became well known as the Silver Factory.

I really love the vibrancy and simplicity of Warhol’s artwork. I like how his artwork almost demonstrates the potential outcomes that can come from experimenting and attempting an art process over and over again or taking different approaches, instead of focusing on one attempt only. I am also particularly fond of how unique his paintings are and how there aren’t many artists who had attempted this style of painting and printmaking. I feel that Warhol was very clever to spot a gap in the market for this technique as it ended up supporting his desire to get involved in commercial packaging and advertising.

Anish Kapoor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anish Kapoor is a British Indian Sculptor who specialises in installation art and sculptures. His sculptures have an intense, almost spiritual outdoor sense about them as they make the audience ponder the perception of space and how form can be manipulated. Kapoor’s aim as an artist is to catch the viewers attention with the rich colours, smooth surfaces and optical illusion and depths of his sculptures. He is best known for his ‘Cloud Gate’ Sculpture otherwise known as ‘the Bean’ which is situated in Chicago.

He works with a variety of materials such as mirror, stone, wax and PVC which has allowed him to explore the biomorphic and geometric forms as well as negative space. He was first recognised in the 1980’s for how he manipulates form and the perception of space within his artwork. He has been awarded multiple awards such as the Turner Prize in 1991 and received a knighthood for the visual arts.

I like how Kapoor’s sculptures almost move into the distance and disappear into the walls or the floors and the optical illusion it has on my eyes. I think it is extremely clever for Kapoor to place his sculpture right in front of the public as it is unexpected and has a better effect in making the viewer think more about the physical world and the reality we perceive as humans.

 

Sean Scully

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sean Scully is an American-Irish artist working as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer. He is most well known for his large scale abstract paintings on canvas that are composed of brushy layers of coloured squares or stripes. Most of his paintings are created with memories of Venice in mind. He is was inspired by Van Gogh, Emil Nolde and Henri Matisse. His paintings consist of grids of interlaced vertical, horizontal, and diagonal bands and stripes. His artwork is mainly influenced by Ireland, London and New York which are all places that he grew up. When I first looked at his artwork I instantly thought of board games or the patterns of flags of different countries.

Scullys’ artwork has been held in museum collections worldwide and he has twice been named a Turner Prize nominee. Moving from London to New York in 1975, he helped lead the transition from Minimalism to Emotional abstraction in painting. I am not the biggest fan of Scully’s artwork as i feel it is too simplistic and not overly impressive as an onlooker. I feel that I have also seen many paintings like this before while visiting exhibitions and so I don’t think this style of painting is unique.