Introducing an artist: Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko is a very famous, latvian-born american artist. He passed away in 1970, but his body of work is timeless. He is especially famous for his large, colorful paintings, in which color blocks blur into one another.

Rothko's pieces are dominated by their color. Rothko himself recommended to hang the pieces in dark rooms and to gaze at them from a 45 cm distance - this would bring out the maximum in color, form and effect. However, he did not give many hints in terms of how to interpret his pieces. Instead, he believed that art works have to be mysterious.

I thinkt that many of his pieces are especially significant because of their size. Some of his works are over three meters high. The impact of the blod colors is much greater because of the pieces size. Imagine to have such a work hanging at the back of a room?

Introducing an artist: Patrick Gabler

I recently came across the work of German artist Patrick Gabler while walking around Berlin. I saw one of his pieces through the window of a gallery, and was immediately fascinated. I had never heard of Gabler before, but will always recognize his work if I see it in the future.

This is so, because he has a very unique and original style: he uses indian ink on paper and draws lively, feather-like swearls, forming the shape of a perfect circle. When using ink to draw on paper, there is no option of correcting what has been drawn. If Gabler where using paint, he could go back and remove a line, or an error. Everything in Gabler's pieces was created at first try, and I think it is very couragous to use such materials that don't allow mistakes.

I think what caught my eye was the contrast between the swirls he draws and the circle which they form. It seems as if the ink is moving, swiveling around, but it is always bound to the frame of the circle. Also, even though the piece is visually simple,  the pieces still contains a lot of depth.

Introducing an artist: Damien Hirst

The british artist Damien Hirst is actually of those artists who doesn't need an introduction nowadays; he's in everybodies heads and mouths anyway. When thinking of Damien Hirst, most of you will picture provocative works such as large tanks filled with dead animals (such as sharks) or his famous skull piece that is covered in sparkling diamonds. However, he also creates other works of art that are interesting and unique.

Similar to Gerhard Richter, Damien Hirst creates a vast variety of different art works that are however all unrecognizably Damien Hirst's. He inspires in his use of color, shape and simplicity. For example, painting dots is a very simple and straightforward idea, however he makes it look so fascinating. 

I really like his "round" pieces as well. In fact, when looking at his works, one will discover that many of his pieces come in a perfect circle, such as the butterfly piece below. 

Eventhough I would never use actual animals in my art,some of the works in which he uses dead animals are interesting (more in a scientific than artific sense but anyway), and they are what made him as famous as he is. Out of his animal works I like his butterfly pieces the most, as I think that the colors of the butterflies function as an art piece themselves and he makes use of that. 

Introducing an artist: Jakob Gasteiger

I am really passionate about texture in art. As soon as a piece has some sort of structure - whether through certain materials or simply through splotches of paint- I immediately find it more interesting. There is one specific artist who's work I really admire because he uses color and texture in a way that I find is incredibly interesting and appealing aesthetically. His Name is Jakob Gasteiger and he comes from Austria. He works with paper, paint, aluminium and more and creates sculptures, paintings and installations. 

Gasteiger really inspires me in terms of composition and color besides his use of texture as well, because the colors he uses and the way he combines them in shapes on the canvas is beautiful to look at. In general I am more of a fan of  "few-colors-interesting-shapes" abstract works and he really catches my taste 100%. I would probably name his as my favourite artist at the moment. 

Gasteiger's work is heavily dominated by the technique he uses. They are all abstract. He repeatedly layers the paint and then manipulates it, for example by scraping on it and therefore creating lines. His piece are rather decorative than deep in meaning, but they are simply beautiful to look at. Instead of offering the observer a defined shape, he allows us to interpret his works ourselves. 

Introducing an artist: Gerhard Richter

It comes with no surprise, that the first artist I am introducing on this blog is Gerhard Richter. Richter is not only one of my favorite artists, but also one of the most talented artists I know. 

I think great art has the power to function as inspiration for other great art works. Not that I think artists should "copy" other artist's ideas. I just believe that seeing original art can initiate creative thought processes from which one develops own ideas. Gerhard Richter is probably one of the most inspiring artists I know.

Richter is a very famous, German artist who's exhibition "Panorama"I visited some time ago in Berlin. Richter is significant because of the vastness of his body of work. When scanning Gerhard Richter's website, one finds a seemingly infinite number of works, that are organized into categories, titled "Candles", "Astronomy", "Women", "Landscapes" "Old Master Inspired", and more. This alone hints at the incredible variation within Richter's artworks. He produces both purely abstract as well as photo-like realistic paintings, but he also uses various materials in his art, such as photography and other digital media. I found his abstract works the most interesting, but then I am generally more interested in abstract art. 

One of his strikingly realistic pieces is called "Betty". In this piece, as in others, Richter displays his immense skill in painting. This piece is especially significant, because the girl in the painting is Richters daughter Betty. She has her face turned away from him, but the grey background behind her is actually one of Richter's paintings. So while she is facing away from Richter as a person, she is looking at Richter in his art.

Richter painted numerous pieces of clouds, that are so realistic looking, that it is hard to believe they are painted.Clouds in front of a deep blue sky; it seems like a photograph taking on a warm summer day. In 2013, on of the cloud pieces (shown below) was sold for 11,893,675 USD. 


His seascapes, similar to the clouds, are also extremely realistic. I find this piece, "Seascape" (Brown, Troubled, 1969, especially significant, because it captures the special atmosphere of the sea when the sun beams on the water at dawn, or maybe just before sundown. Richter also painted numerous diffferent pieces with the sea as the subject, and they are all magnificent. Just imagine how a room would change, if such a piece as the one below were to hang in it?

Apart from the realistic pieces, Richter also creates a broad amount of abstract art. One of the abstract series he created are his grey pieces. What I think is fascinating about them, is the fact that in the way they are carried out (thick, aggressive strokes across a large canvas, in this case), and yet they are brilliant and unique. Through just the energetic movement of the paint brush, Richter creates lively emotion in his pieces, even though he only uses various grey tones and displays no particular subject. 


The works that impress me most however, are his wild, large and colorful abstract paintings. I am especially drawn to these works because they seem to overflow with paint and energy.He creates these pieces using the technique that can be seen in the first picture of this post; by first painting layers of paing and then scraping the paint across the canvas using the tool in his hands. This technique is a trade mark of Richter's abstract works. One can immediately recognize his abstract pieces because of it. 

"Untitled" , 1989, oil on colour photograph 

"Wolke", 1976, Oil on Canvas

"Grey", 1970, Oil on Canvas

"Abstract Painting", 2004, oil on canvas

"Seascape", 1970

"Betty", 1988, oil on canvas

Overall, what I really like about Richter's art is that he doesn't follow a specific style; he just creates what comes to his mind in any style he likes - while other artists tend to stick to a single line. This combination of style, material, technique and color is what makes his art so breath-taking and successful. While I talked about some of his pieces here, I merely touched on the body of work that Richter has produced in his life. If you wish to find out more about this artist, I recommend you visit his homepage:http://www.gerhard-richter.com/, or you take a look at the documentary that was made about him by Corinna Belz:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF6EluMNR14. 

Brush & Stroke

   

I am an 18 year old artist based in Berlin, currently living in Prague. I created this blog to share art, inspirations and creativity with the world. 

I let myself be inspired by everything -  maybe my Blog, Art and Ideas will inspire you.