Sean Scully

The piece posted above is Sean Scully's "Raval Rojo," painted in 2004. Scully is yet another artist who does blocks of color, which I typically do not like. These blocks of color I do not mind as much, however, because they are less precise and more organic. He lets the white of the canvas show through between the blocks, and his brush strokes are visible as well. I feel that this leads the eye around the canvas more effectively, holding my attention for longer.

When searching Scully, there were not only images of just his art, but also images from some of his gallery shows. When he hangs these pieces, he hangs them surrounded by copious amounts of white wall space, framing and isolating them. The white space makes the colors pop, especially when the pieces are backlit. I never think of pieces hanging without a frame or a mat, so it is interesting to think of the wall as framing a piece by itself. When matting a piece, you have the option of doing black mat or white mat, but gallery walls are normally just white, so not using a mat would generally eliminate the possibility of a colored border to the piece. Either way, looking at Scully's work made me give more consideration to the presentation of pieces, not just their making.

Alex Katz

Unlike all the other artists I have posted about thus far, Alex Katz is primarily a portrait painter. Below is posted "Eli's Friend," 1985.

This painting seems to be more of a sketch, as most of his other paintings have a more finished quality to them. What attracts me about this painting more so than the others, however, is exactly that. I like how the vest is not completely red and the plethora of highlights in the hair give it body. The bright yellow outline of the face and neck, on the other hand, I neither like nor understand. Even accepting that this could be a sketch, I see no purpose to it, but rather find it distracting, particularly around the left eye.

Katz's sense of composition seems to be more developed in his other works, with subjects not centered on the page, in poses that aren't entirely frontal. The composition of this painting reminds me of school picture day, where everything from shoulder level up is cropped out of the frame. Were Katz to combine this looser style of painting with the composition of his other works, I would consider that to be a successful piece.

Peter Halley

Peter Halley's work is all blocks of color, such as "Six Prisons in Color," 2004, posted below.

Unfortunately, I can not say that I'm a fan of this style of art. I do not stand the appeal of painting blocks of color, and it is not something that I would choose to decorate with. However, that is just my personal opinion.

For the piece posted above, Halley made an interesting choice with the colors. The tones he used together are all rather discordant and jarring to the eye. The vibrance of the colors makes each of the six main blocks look like they are misaligned with each other, like they are all slightly off-kilter. While I mentally know that this is not the case, the aesthetics of it make it difficult to see what I know to be true.

Donald Sultan

Donald Sultan is another artist who works in a minimalistic style. His piece "Pomegranate" is posted below.

This work is an etching, and like many of his other pieces, is part of an edition - this is one of sixty. Surprisingly, this piece is 48 inches by 36 inches, and as such probably has a different impact than I am getting from the small image on a computer screen. Sultan also does screen prints, and tends to use one or two colors with blacks and whites, which adds a dramatic flair. Such high contrast has a tendency to draw attention, and is a technique that I myself use in digital work.

I haven't ever done etchings or screen prints, but I love the graphic quality of the images that are made utilizing these techniques. One of the things that I really enjoy about Sultan's work is that he makes sure to maintain interesting compositions, not having everything central to the page. On some of his screen prints, the images even bleed over the white border, disrupting the clean line but drawing the viewer's attention. While I think this can be an effective technique, it is important to make sure that it is done with intent, so it does not look sloppy, which Sultan does successfully achieve.

Kara Walker

Some of Kara Walker's most prominent works are cut paper silhouettes done on a massive scale. She generally addresses identity and gender issues, particularly for African American women. However, Walker does use graphic imagery for these silhouettes, which has a tendency to cause controversy.

"Virginia's Lynch Mob," 1998, is posted above. In it you can see not only the large scale that Walker posts on, but the graphic nature of her pieces. Not only is there a person hanging upsidedown from a stick, but there is an image of a boy blowing his brains out with a shot gun. It would take me a lot of courage to make images such as these, especially anticipating the potentially negative feedback I would receive on them.

In my fundamentals of art and design class last semester, we did a project using contact paper to make solid black forms to stick to things. I then used my leftover contact paper to make an elephant decal for my laptop. One of my biggest difficulties with both the assignment and my personal side project was cutting out the small details, not to mention sticking them down without accidentally tearing them off. I can not even imagine how Walker accomplished this. I really enjoy the aesthetic of these silhouettes, though, and intend on incorporating something similar into work I do in the future.

Elizabeth Murray

Elizabeth Murray's art is very bold and vibrant, and to be entirely honest, I love it. It does seem rather juvenile upon first glance, but that is part of it's appeal. Murray's work makes for a nice break from more traditional oil paintings.

Posted above is Murray's "The Sun and the Moon," painted in 2005 on oil on canvas on wood. She paints on these wood pieces and then cuts them out and assembles her works in layers, adding a three dimensional quality. This adds extra intrigue because there are then shadows cast upon lower layers, with the shadows altering based upon lighting.

What really shocked me about the piece posted above is that it is 117 inches by 107.5 inches in size. I am 63 inches tall, meaning that this piece is twice my size, not accounting for the fact that it would presumably be hanging above floor level. I feel like it would definitely require a change of pace to work that big, and it's something I would eventually like to try.

Jackson Pollock

The first in-person exposure I had to Jackson Pollock was in my junior year of high school. My art class took a class trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where there was a special Chinese exhibit. The focus of this exhibit was sumi-e, so I and the rest of my class were rather surprised when we turned a corner and saw a Jackson Pollock work much like the one pictured below (Number 1, 1950). 

What was even more surprising was that the MFA chose to mount it horizontally, so the viewers were looking down on the flat painting. As our tour guide explained, however, this was to emphasize the connection between the methods of Chinese painting and Pollock's work. Pollock systematically worked in layers, planning out what order he would place the colors in, and what spaces he would fill with each color.

Part of what I like about Pollock's work stems from having this knowledge. Upon first glance, Pollock's work looks like splatter paint, something I could do at summer camp. It appears chaotic and disorganized, with no real focus. Understanding that there is a process behind each work allows me a greater appreciation, taking notice of the negative spaces and color palette. While I would not necessarily choose to emulate this style of work, I think Jackson Pollock is one of those artists that emphasizes the importance of intention and forethought, which are two things that I can use.