Audrey Kawasaki
Is a Los Angeles based artist known for her beautiful erotically charged figurative oil paintings directly onto wood panels of young women influenced by japanese manga. Her art conflicts against itself with artistic contradictions such as being innocent yet erotic/ beautiful yet disturbing and this is something I would have to aim for with my current project: creating something that is visually beautiful whilst having a subject matter that is emotionally disturbing and upsetting such as poverty and third world countries. I love her work as a whole, it's feminine, filled with stunning natural imagery and has an erotic atmosphere about it which I love. I especially love how creative she is with materials.
This is one of my favourite piece mainly because of the lack of colour, somehow it looks and seems more effective when there's just a small hint of colour even if it is faded like in this painting. It has been done with oil paint, pencil for shading, pen for line definition and coloured pencil for the yellow on handcut paper and is 12"x24". The layers on this piece are wonderful and gives real depth to the image making the girl look as though she's walking towards you through the painting itself and I love this effect. It also makes a change to see an image of hers in black and white and it's a nice change, I like the idea of a background made up of repetitive shapes or patterns as well clearly she has really pulled this off and made it less boring by colouring selected shapes in with a colour that is complimentary to the piece as a whole.
This piece is very mystical and possesses the oriental beauty and atmosphere of modern japanese manga with it's imagery such as unique creatures, flowers and lettering all washed over with white paint and topped off with silver. It's simply stunning and glows off the page with it's bright colour washed over a dull dark piece of wood. I would definitely like to re-create this style with these techniques in my own work but bring my own take on it simply because it has inspired me so much with its simplicity and that the idea of wiping a colour over the image can make a whole difference especially when added to with a very complimentary colour.
This is one of her most famous pieces called "My dishonest heart" known for being tattooed onto famous American singer Christina Perri by Kat Von D. It's such an iconic piece and over all it is simple and yet strikingly beautiful. I love that you can see the pattern of the wood through the image itself even if it is just faintly because it not only adds texture but adds that mystical demeanour that has become a theme throughout her work. I also admire how she's able to capture emotion in the face, her eyes are unique in their shape and are so emotive which I absolutely love in a portrait.
Stella im Hultberg
Hultberg is a Korean born painter currently living and working Brooklyn, New York. Her paintings/drawings are simple yet illustrative and are inspirational to me because of their style and detail. Her work reminds me of Audrey Kawasaki's in many ways from the unusual eyes to the figurative, feminine themes and I like her style of working and techniques she uses.
I really like this piece because it looks like something that has been pulled out of a dream, it's so unusual and simple. I really like the smoky effect around the edges of the hair making it look as though the heads are part of the smoke and I can feel a sense of movement from the way the heads are positioned. Also, I really like the emotion on the face and although this piece doesn't really portray what I want to do in terms of my art I can always relate to emotion and this image has a lot.
Hultberg is also known for her famous tea staining technique which is actually something I like to do quite a lot in my art. Here is an example above; as you can see it is used more for background purposes but compliments the main image beautifully as the colour radiates off the skin tone and is very complimentary next to the blue and works well as a background filling in white space. I like the simple figure in the centre of the page as well, theres a sense of movement like the painting has captured her mid-dance and the leaves add to the motion whilst bringing natural imagery into it which I really like.
Derek Gores
is a collage artist from New York well known for his angular and abstract collages mainly of women. He is perfect for my research and inspiration because he creates his work from found materials too, except he collects from fashion magazines to portray images typically seen in them but recreated with his own artistic flair in an abstract style. Although he is a fine artist his work relates to mine and have gained so much inspiration from his work and how expertly detailed it is because of his attention to detail when it comes to his materials. I also love how he portrays his work in a way that he singles out his target audience straight away- women. In particular, women who are up to date with fashion, fashion magazines and modern entertainment concerning the portrayal and style of women.
This piece is called "Ever more" and is on 48"x48" canvas with magazine papers and paint to highlight and define certain areas such as the breast and face. My favourite thing about this piece is how well he has incorporated shading and lighting even within a piece simply made up of magazine parts, it looks brilliant the way you can make out clearly where the light source is even with the wide selection of pieces that he has used. I also like it because there is no colour which to me would be harder to do with magazine pieces because they are littered with colour which makes this piece more impressive and shows that you don't need colour to make a piece like this striking and stand out.
This piece is called 'Full volume London' and has been done on a 30"x30" canvas. He has captured the essence and patriotism of London as a physical destination and as a visual representation of how the fashion world views and portrays London which I think is incredibly impressive. I love the use of colours all the colours of the union jack look beautiful and again reflect the place itself. I could do a piece similar but with imagery from Ghana and the essence of their culture as a visually pleasing representation of their country and even the way we or the fashion world view it, I believe this would attract more people to it. Over all this piece is visually stunning and one of my favourite pieces so far.
