Are there any artists you are obsessed with?

And if so, to which extent do you involve yourself with and find out more about the artist's work?

My favourite artist is Francis Bacon, and I'm pretty much obsessed with his work. I try to see as many of his paintings as possible, whether it's at auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's or domestic exhibitions at art galleries at museums. I've also planned a holiday to Switzerland around a big exhibition he had there last year.

A couple of year's ago his estate published a catalogue of his complete works which took over ten years to research and publish. It was £1,000 to buy but it really is the most valuable reference and resource ever and you can really get lost in paging through the volumes.

I also started to record all his pieces I've seen in person, and so far I've seen around 80 out of 580 or so pieces. Not bad going!

Anyway, I would be interested in knowing if any other members here also have a favourite artist they're obsessed with.

Here's one of the paintings I saw in Switzerland last year:

 

I'm not obsessed with a specific artist, no, but I do have an obsession with the original artwork for the 'Yellow Submarine' movie. I'm much more into contemporary and modern art (the more insane the better) than 'the old stuff' but never liked Francis Bacon (or Mark Rothko)

I can gleefully spend a day or two wandering around Tate Modern or The Pompidou but get bored very quickly in, say, The National.

 

Not to the point of obsession but I love:

Lautrec
Monet
Van Gogh
Degas
Fragonard
Rembrandt
Turner
Mondrian
Magritte
Doré
Dali
Warhol
Lichtenstein
Leyendecker
Gilbert & George
...

 

I was worried this thread would be inundated with Beatles posts, but then I remembered it was in "Visual Arts."

 

I like Balthus because he’s still pissing off people with his subversive subject matter. He still gets shut down!

 

Not obsessed but some of my favorites are Dalí, Picasso, Pollock, Hopper, Mondrian and Warhol.

 

David Wojnarowicz. The Whitney retrospective last year was awe inspiring, and I was already a fan. Most of his work can't be shown on the forum, but he is the most important artist to rise during the AIDS epidemic. His art and his writings are still inspirational.


And Andy Warhol, of course. If in NYC I would suggest a visit to the Whitney for the Warhol retrospective they have on until the end of March. It's a thing of beauty.

 

Not obsessed, but I like:

Lucian Freud
Eric Gill
Norman Lindsay

I also have a great respect for artists who started out as illustrators; they tend to value craftsmanship which is often overlooked in modern art. N.C. Wyeth comes to mind, along with W. Russell Flint, Arthur Rackham, Aubrey Beardsley, Maxfield Parrish...This is N.C. Wyeth's Blind Pew. The link below has lots of other illustrators.



illustrators

 

ha! just posted this in another thread. Andy Warhol. movies, artwork....everything

 

_____________
I also like:

Eulalie Minfred Banks
John Schmelzer
Norman Rockwell
Michael Koelsch

 

I've only seen one in person in a local collectors/artists home/gallery, but this ink colour field painting by Chin Shek Lam has stayed in my mind since the first time it absorbed me...it's the most perfect, beautiful wet malachite/aventurine/emerald/absinthe green ink on rice paper. Like a dream, sublime /fresh air....more than the visual it's a sensation of clarity that is usually experienced from the inside out; if ever.
I've seen many renowned and moving works of art in galleries but only once before has art had this effect on me.
Coincidentally it was with the owner of the painting who is a respected sculptor and educator; she was teaching figure sculpture and showing me ways to use a wooden tool on soft clay mounted to an armature...we were alone, she was, cutting, swiping with the tool; rapidly making faces and changing expressions.
Suddenly, it was the Buddha....not just a model of a buddha...it was all the radiance, the absolute glory, the idea of Buddha; an otherworldly being ...we experienced a glimpse of the surreal beauty of perfection...we both gasped...exhaled...and she swiped the face into someone else. Then it was gone.

Later, I asked her why. ...she said it was a lesson and not the point

 

If you have not seen it check out the BBC Bacon documentary - A Brush With Violence. On you tube. It helped me understand his work.

 

Norman Mingo

 

If you are a fan of Rembrandt or Van Gogh TCM has two movies coming up about them. I don't remember the days but I was scrolling thru the guide and saw them coming up and set them to record. The Van Gogh movie is "Lust For Life".

My wife is a huge fan of Van Gogh and it was really something to see the art up close and personal when we went to the Smithsonian. You have to see this stuff with your own eyes, it will really amaze you.

Bosch is also a favorite:


You can sit and study his stuff for hours.

But one of my personal favorites is modern... Steve Ditko. I love looking at his stuff, I guess it is the kid in me.

 

Stan Washburn is an interesting artist. A few decades ago he published A Moral Alphabet of Vice and Folly: Embellished with Nudes and Other Exemplary Materials. It's a small book with exquisite etchings, and in addition to that it's hilarious. You can find it used for a few bucks; well worth it. He's done a lot of other things as well. Check his stuff out at stanwashburn.com.

 

Maybe I'm obsessed with John Lennon's drawrings. You don't know me!

 

Not obsessed but a true fanboy of Vermeer. I've seen only one of his paintings live but I know his work, life and details surrounding him very well.

 

You might want to watch Tim's Vermeer. (Available on Amazon Prime and other sites.) Background: some years ago David Hockney scandalized the art world by theorizing that a lot of the old masters used optical devices to help with their draftsmanship. The art establishment reacted with horror, clutching their pearls and saying there's no way that could have happened. Hockney wrote a book devoted to this premise :

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Knowl...r=1-1&keywords=secret+knowledge+david+hockney

Anyway, an inventor named Tim Jenison, with virtually no artistic experience, reproduced Vermeer's studio. Using techniques Vermeer likely used, he was able to produce a remarkable copy of one of Vermeer's paintings. Interesting.

Tim's Vermeer - Wikipedia

 

Ah, reprieved...

 

AH HA HA ...good one...

 

most of these...

 

Well, since I own every book of his collected work (except that omnibus collection that falls apart in no time), I think it's fair to say I'm obsessed with Bill Watterson's work:

 

Art : 1850 -1950

Comics ?
Jack Kirby

 

I've seen parts of it, thanks for the link. There is a parallel idea to this movie where that Vermeer didn't use a camera obscura primarily but actually a two mirror system. He then goes on to show the constructs of Vermeer's paintings that line up with this two mirror system. Although Vermeer could have had access to the optics needed to build a camera obscura, these optical instruments were extremely rare, expensive and not accurate in representing detail. It is more likely he would have used a two mirror approach for much of his painting when he used devices though there is evidence he used the camera obscura. There is better evidence he used a large two mirror system to make many of his paintings.

 

I can start at any ROBERT WILLIAMS piece for days!