Banksy

Banksy, a British native, is known mostly for his graffiti and street art, but is also a film director and political activist.  In the early 90’s, he began his graffiti career as a member of Bristol’s ‘DryBreadZ Crew’ with Kato and Tes. 

 Although he began as a freehand graffiti-ist, he soon began using stencils.  By early 2000’s, he realized how much quicker a piece could be completed by using stencils and made difficult pieces a more realistic accomplishment.  As well as being humorous, many of his pieces include some sort of text or slogan, usually consisting of an ‘anti’ campaign (anti-war, anti-capitalism, anti-establishment).

Banksy’s exhibit Turf War, a success in 2003, did not only make an impact in the art world, but also in the world of animal rights.  Held in a warehouse in Britain, Banksy painted on animals.

The conditions of the exhibit were claimed suitable by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA); even with the RSPCA’s suitable conditions, an animal rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.


Recently, in 2012, Banksy finished his first book, called ‘You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat’.  The title is to be published by Carpet Bombing Culture and is to be released on July 2nd of this year.

Jeff Koons

Most known for his larger than life sculptures, Koons lives and works out of New York City.  He studied painting at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and the Maryland Institute College of Art.  While making a name for himself, he worked as a Wall Street commodities broker and at the membership desk of the Museum of Modern Art.

In the mid 80's, he became somewhat well known and created a 'factory-like' studio, similar to Andy Warhol's Factory.  He hired over thirty people to assist him, each one assigned to a specific part of producing his work.  The two pieces below are two of that brought Jeff Koons' name to the forefront in the art field.

                        The 'New' Series (Hoover Vacuums)                  The 'Equilibrium' Series

Although the above pieces were some of the pieces that helped bring him to fame, he is probably most well known for his 'Celebration' series.  This series includes several larger than life sculptures of Easter eggs and balloon dogs.  Each piece has been built with a mirrored finish covering a high-chromium stainless steel frame.  One of my favorite is the pink balloon dog located in Paris (pictured below).

'Balloon Dog'

Along with his well known presence in the art world, Jeff Koons' name has been mentioned in the field of law.  In 1992, he was taken to court for copyright infringement.  Art Rogers, of Germany, had taken a picture of a couple holding eight puppies which was printed on cards and other simple merchandise items.  Koons took that image and created a wood painted sculpture that looks very similar.  His sculpture was a huge success; he sold three of them for a total of $360,000.  Anyway, once in court, Koons ended up losing the case and had to give a large monetary settlement and ship the fourth of the series to Rogers in Germany. Follow Koons v. Rogers for the rest of the story.  In 2005, he was sued again for copyright infringement, Koons v. Blanch, only this time he won.

Overall, Koons has done very well for himself, making lots of money doing what he loves.  There is one piece though, that sticks out to me.  It falls into the category of his 'Equilibrium' Series.  Not only have his pieces been a huge success in the art world, but apparently they have made their way into the sports world.  I stumbled upon this article in which Lebron James was in the process of making a deal with the New York Knicks with the requirement that Koons would redesign uniform. Koons and Lebron James were talking with each other about redesigning the entire Madison Square Garden, the locker rooms and even place several balloon sculptures around the property.  The picture below was taken when the two were discussing the requirements of Lebron's deal.

'Lebron in Equilibrium'

(The article I found about Lebron James and Koons is not actually real.  When you read the article, the story states that it's not true., which I found hilarious!)

M.C. Escher

Born in 1898 as the youngest of four children to a civil engineer, Maurits Cornelis Escher has, throughout his life, made his place in history as a graphic artist.  Although he is most widely known for being a graphic artist, he also illustrated books and postage stamps, designed tapestries and painted murals.  He was publicly interviewed and that is available here.

Escher was a terrible student and failed many high school classes, he was eventually enrolled into the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem.  Once there, he was less amused with architecture and more into graphic art, which his professor had encouraged him to pursue.  Once finishing school, he traveled all over Italy where he met his wife, Jetta Umiker, which he married in 1924.

After marrying, he settled in Rome where they lived until 1935.  In those years, Escher would travel the country sketching things to print once returning home.  He strongly believed in getting as much work out of one piece as he could, using some of the sketches over and over.

The trees used in "Pineta of Calvi" (above) are the same trees used in "Puddle" (below).

He spent time in Switzerland during the second World War where he spent a more intense time pursuing his passion.  He began playing with architecture, perspective and impossible spaces; creating some of the most intriguing pieces ever, the two below are my favorite.

BE SURE TO LOOK CLOSELY!!

        

"Relativity"                                                    "Waterfall"

Paul Cadden

Cadden, 47, of Glasgow Scotland is a Hyper-realistic drawing and painting phenomenon.  In the 80's, he studied Print Design and Illustration at Glasgow college of Building and Printing and studied Animation and Illustration at James Watt College in the early 2000's.

He is currently represented by London's Plus One Gallery.  A spokesman at the gallery said, "When you look at a picture of his work, they do look like photographs, but when you see it in a gallery up close, you can tell it's a drawing. The detail is incredible."  Over the next year, he plans on visiting the U.S.  He has recently been invited to Atlanta to have a solo exhibition showing of portraits of Naduah Rugley, a former contestant on America's Next Top Model.  He has also been invited to New York's OK Harris Gallery for his 'unusual' Scottish landscapes.  On average, his gallery pieces sell for $6,000; but you can pick up a limited edition print from Paul Cadden's Website.

"Scottish Landscapes" Graphite on Recycled Paper

Paul stated, "I've been drawing since I was six years old and have wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember. Hyper-realism tends to create and emotional, social and cultural impact and differs from photo-realism, which is far more technical.  My inspiration comes from the phrase, 'to intensify the normal'.  I can take everyday objects and scenes of people and then create a drawing which carries an emotional impact, it can be quite beautiful."  His laid back personality and complex 'everyday' style makes him one of my favorite artists of all time.  As well as all his other achievements, Cadden was recently short-listed for Artist of the Year 2011 for his piece, 'Painted Context'.

"Painted Context" Pastel on Paper

Brandon McConnell

Brandon McConnell, 36 of Chula Vista, California, is a spray paint style artist.  He had grown up doodling and doing art all through high school, focusing on Ink and Airbrush.  In 1999, a trip to Mexico changed that. He walked upon a sidewalk spray paint artist and was instantly amazed by the vibrant colors, interesting textures and speed at which a piece could be completed.  After lots of practice and determination, he began creating a portfolio.  In 2003, he began a website, http://www.spacepaintings.com/spraypaintart.html, began selling works, instructional DVD's and created a community of spray paint artists.  As of right now, his site has accumulated nearly 500,000 visitors and his 'community' is still the largest in the spray paint style.  This style of art, I believe, is one of the most crazy awesome mediums and I have even tried making a few of my own.  The way you can build up the layers and use paper to create the specific type of texture you want is awesome.  These would make a great gift for anyone.

 "Spray paint art has opened up a whole new world for me and allows me to express my feelings and imagination.  I am constantly learning new things and plan to continue spray paint for as long as I can."

                                                                                                                                 - Brandon McConnell

     What is art? Is there even an answer? By dictionary definition, art is the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.  From the beginning, an artist may have to overcome difficulties of many levels.  As an artist myself, I understand that money doesn't really flow when you are just beginning.  If you plan on making any money, you have to get your name into the art community.  Which reminds me, everyone reading this blog should look up 'Yoder's Photography (Anthony Yoder)' on Facebook and LIKE it. An artist has to create pieces that are unique, that stand apart from any other pieces.
     This blog is dedicated, not only to well known artists, but to less known as well.  As an art major at Graceland University, I have the privilege of attending artist talks.  Artists come to campus and give a presentation on their style of art, what they do, how they accomplish it and sometimes even bring some pieces in to put on display.  This allows me an opportunity to help out the less known artists, by getting their names out showing off some of their pieces.