Carel Willink
Carel Willink was a Dutch painter born in Amsterdam in 1900. He called his style of painting ‘imaginary realism’: reality with unreal elements. To me, he added an unreal element Continue reading
Leef Evans
I had the pleasure of working with Leef at Gallery Gachet. It’s as though Leef has crossed an arbitrary line of mastery. I love his recent work. The self-portrait above Continue reading
Varvara Stepanova
Varvara Stepanova (1894-1958) was closely associated with the constructivist movement. She worked with artists, such as, Popova and Rodchenko at Tsindel the first state textile factory near Moscow as a Continue reading
JMW Turner
Joseph Mallord William (JMW) Turner (1775 – 1851). John Ruskin’s (the nineteenth century inconceivably influential art critic — no one today has even an ounce of comparable power: he shaped our conception Continue reading
Gustav Klimt
When someone’s work is as ubiquitous as Klimt’s, it’s difficult to see past that veneer. Recently, I looked more closely at his work, almost by accident. I watched Andrew Graham-Dixon’s Continue reading
Kazimir Malevich
Malevich is a Russian avant-garde artist (b: 1879 d: 1935). This period of his work is called Suprematism. He wrote a manifesto on the subject calling it From Cubism to Continue reading
Howard Hodgkins
At the weekend, I was wandering around the 1960′s portrait room at The National Portrait Gallery, London, comparing the different painting techniques of rendering the human face. Along the line, Continue reading
Julie Cockburn
I’m bending the rules once again and including an assemblage and collage artist who sometimes uses paint. I first came across Julie Cockburn in an issue of The British Journal Continue reading
Marcel Dzama
Marcel Dzama, Canadian (1974- ). There are elements I like about Dzama’s work. Not a surprise as I appreciate his use of colour, composition, and references to early 20th century Continue reading
‘Folk’ Art
What does the term ‘folk art’ mean? Is it artwork that reflects a society’s culture and traditional values by unknown creators? This term is as elusive as other terms, such Continue reading
Adolf Dietrich
Adolf Dietrich (b. November 9, 1877 – d. June 4, 1957) has been labeled as a prime representative of Naïve art. However, I don’t think his work is simple, or childlike Continue reading
Balthus
Balthus (Polish-French, b. 1908-2001) didn’t like to describe his work or give up biographical information; he felt the visuals hold what he wanted to express and it’s up to the Continue reading
Dimitri Zhilinsky
Dimitri Zhilinsky (Russia, b. 1927). He was a member of the ‘Severe Style’, a group or Russian painters in the 1960′s, that wanted to contrast Socialist Realism’s looser brushwork, to, Continue reading
Judd Brucke
Judd Brucke (b: Canada, 1976) an artist working in Glasgow Scotland, and a member of the Glaswegian artist run initiative: 85A Collective. Brucke’s work is emotive, political, powerful and aesthetically Continue reading
Christian Schad
Christian Schad (1894-1982, Germany) is associated with Dada and New Objectivity Movement which was squashed by the Nazis. However Schad’s art was not considered ‘degenerate’ art and was included in Continue reading
François-Emile Barrauda
Barrauda was born in 1899 in Switzerland and passed away when he was 34 from tuberculosis. He is largely self-taught as were his brothers, all of whom worked as professional Continue reading
Kent Simard
It’s important to think about our place in the solar system. In many ways this ‘new’ knowledge is a return to ancient knowledge. “I am perishing with thirst, give me Continue reading
Tom Thomson
Tom Thomson (August 5, 1877 – July 8, 1917), from Claremont, Ontario. Thomson was ‘spiritual muse’ to The Group of Seven: a group of painters based in Toronto in the first Continue reading
David Poolman
Poolman b. c. 1971, from London, Ontario. I don’t know what is going on with the wiener/sausage drawings. They are incredible to look at. I’m drawn to them because they Continue reading
Michaël Borremans
The David Zwirner gallery in New York is showing Borremans paintings Nov 4 – Dec 17, 2011. I received an advertisement for the show, and this introduced me to the Continue reading
