Recent art that you liked

[GrantCee]

I think it's all in the eye of the beholder for sure. It also depends on the culture the viewer comes from. Some cultures are more "shocked" than others because of their circumstances. Some people are just more uncomfortable with nudity in general than others, or violence, or sex, or fruit! Some people sexualize things that aren't meant to be sexualized at all.

Our American culture certainly has its hang-ups where nudity and sex are concerned.

For me, it's more about implicit degradation; if the nude form even hints of being demeaning, it's offensive to me. The female doesn't even need to be naked for me to feel that. de Kooning's "woman" series, for instance, suggest to me that he devalues, perhaps even despises, women in general. I can't bring myself to look at them.

We don't know the view of an artist, whatever gender. We don't know if or when a woman is recapitulating a man's view. We don't know her intentions as an artist. These are total assumptions. Maybe it looks that way. Maybe she is embracing something that some men can't even comprehend when she is rendering such imagery. Viewers (of all types of genders) will interpret the paintings differently and have their own assumptions, right or wrong, but what counts is how the work makes impact.

Good point; I have no idea why Yuskavage chose to paint what she did the way she did. I would argue, though, that the meaning of and motivation behind a work of art made to show belongs as much to the viewer as the creator, and thus the viewer's assumptions count for at least as much as the artist's.

This discussion has caused me to think about WHY her work strikes me negatively. It's clear that I see them differently than others, and it's going to take some more thought on my part to explain the reason. Could it be latent Puritanism? Perhaps, but I think it's deeper than that.

Who cares if some people are shocked? Like I said, I'm personally indifferent. I'm more grossed out by a Thomas Kinkade. Ha ha.

I'm in total agreement with that sentiment!

 

[laika]

Maybe she is embracing something that some men can't even comprehend when she is rendering such imagery.

Or maybe some men are intuitive and discerning, and also possibly more comfortable calling a spade a spade?
Or maybe she dreams of busty little girls; could be as simple as that.

 

[Artyczar]

Or maybe some men are intuitive and discerning, and also possibly more comfortable calling a spade a spade?
Or maybe she dreams of busty little girls; could be as simple as that.

I made sure I said some men, not all. Just to emphasize. I do not know anything about Yuskavage or her social views on women or her own self. I can't claim to know her intentions. I'm just saying that sometimes it's not that simple with women as they can be a bit more complex with these issues and not just simply dream of busy little girls. Sure, maybe. But it most instances, it's not as likely in my own experiences with women artists in today's climate. Now I think it might be interesting to know despite how uninterested in her art I am! Ha. Maybe we can find an interview somewhere.

 

[Artyczar]

I just read a couple of interviews with her, one where she was a bit cryptic, saying that the real reason behind it all was boring, and another, this one, explains it better. It's mostly about her upbringing, her roots, and her experience. Then, her point of view of now being a strong-willed painter. I get it. I still am not fond of the paintings, but I think I understand "why."

The second one has a lot of ads on it, and if you can tolerate that, it's a better explanation and insight into the type of person she is. I didn't realize she had lowbrow roots because I knew she had gone to Yale.

 

[stlukesguild]

I'm more grossed out by a Thomas Kinkade.

There are some even worse paintings... but I won't post them here as they fall into the political spectrum.

 

[ZenDruid]

I just read a couple of interviews with her, one where she was a bit cryptic, saying that the real reason behind it all was boring, and another, this one, explains it better.

Thanks for those, I read them both. This is a fascinating thread. I had never heard of Lisa Yuskavage before yesterday when I stumbled across this. I have a few observations:
When I looked at her art, besides "wow, girls with big tits and cute faces", I saw them as atmospheric, dreamy, otherworldly and surreal. I was almost expecting a melting clock in the background.

The nudity is not shocking, despite exaggerated proportions, sometimes really exaggerated. I was a boy when the first Playboy magazine came out, that was shocking, but now I'm used to it. There are now billions of examples all over the internet.

What might be disturbing for some is the explicit eroticism of her work. It's hard to define, perhaps nudity occurring in normal places you wouldn't expect it with an audience in the background. Openly in a vast landscape.

I think "mysoginist" gets tossed around too loosely by people who don't understand the meaning: a man who hates women and manipulates them with cruel intent. He can be charming about it, it may or may not involve sex. I don't understand how that applies to Yuskavage who portrays women in a seemingly loving way, albeit unusual.

Out of curiousity last night, I googled "French Impressionist nudes" and it seems those old boys did them in dozens. Gauguin is obvious, Renoir did a load of them in kind of submissive aspects.
I looked at Willem de Koonings work, he seems ruthless in depicting women in ugly ways.

I enjoy erotic art and I like Lisa Yuskavage's paintings. I also like Alberto Vargas, Frank Frazetta, Robert Crumb and Hieronymus Bosch. And Mad Magazine and Krazy Kat.

 

[Hermes2020]

In the gay world there is far less controversy over the depiction of nudity. There is an endless supply of material with no pretentions of being artistic, but with the sole purpose of fuelling our fantasies. When we look at these images, we usually don't spend too much time wondering whether they objectify the male body before getting down to business. Then there are a few skilled artists who have produced homoerotic works that can also be admired as works of art. Good examples are Keith Vaughan, David Hockney, and Jean Cocteau, who used their considerable skills to produce beautiful male nudes. An example of one by Cocteau:

An artist who may not be as well known in this forum as the above-mentioned ones was the incredibly gifted draughtsman Harry Bush. I have always admired his drawings. Here are some examples of his work.

 

[Marc]

Back in the day I won the the high school wrestling tournament, but I'd be a bit worried about facing someone that excited about it.

 

[stlukesguild]

I looked at Willem de Koonings work, he seems ruthless in depicting women in ugly ways.

DeKooning and his wife used to engage in a rather hurtful game of tit for tat... cheating on each other. DeKooning wrote of his "Women" series:

"I like beautiful women--in the flesh; even models in magazines.
Women irritate me sometimes. I painted that irritation in the
"Women" series, that's all."
-Willem De Kooning

I enjoy erotic art and I like Lisa Yuskavage's paintings. I also like Alberto Vargas, Frank Frazetta, Robert Crumb and Hieronymus Bosch. And Mad Magazine and Krazy Kat.

Like a lot of American kids from my generation, I grew up on popular culture including comic books and illustrations. Before discovering some Playboy magazines laying about at my uncle's house, my first exposure to the female body was through comic books, R. Crumb, Gil Elvgren, etc...

 

[ZenDruid]

Like a lot of American kids from my generation, I grew up on popular culture including comic books and illustrations. Before discovering some Playboy magazines laying about at my uncle's house, my first exposure to the female body was through comic books, R. Crumb, Gil Elvgren, etc...

I know, we had to work hard to satisfy our prurient interests. Kids today are just a google click away from Sodom & Gomorrah and sexting on cell phones. (I'm getting old, I said "kids today")

 

[stlukesguild]

During the past week or two, I've stumbled upon a number of paintings of interest. The first of these is the most recent painting by Marco Grassi. Although my personal taste leans toward figurative art with more of a sense of the artist's touch... brushwork or mark-making... I have still long admired Grassi's incredible mastery of the illusion of "realism". Here, his latest painting is titled, Captivity:

Another incredibly skilled realist that has long been of interest to me is Serge Marshennikov. His Girl with Wheat Hair and Flower Power look nearly as polished as Grassi's paintings... but a closer look reveals they are far more painterly:

The last among the paintings I recently discovered and found of interest is the Spanish painter, Horacio Ferrer's Black Airplanes. The painting offers a comment upon the 1936 bombing of Madrid by the Germans and Spanish Fascists which predated the bombing of Guernica, known through Picasso's painting.

Picasso's decision to paint Guernica was actually inspired in part by a chronicle of the Madrid bombing. The bare-breasted mother interrupted in nursing her child with her fist raised in anger at the bombers recalls, IMO, Delacroix's figure of Liberty Leading the People:

Both paintings seem quite apropos of the current situation in Europe.

 

[Marc]

Would it have been better if the boy was further back?

 

[Marc]

Photoshop a bit clumsy. Maybe I'd move him a little to our left.

 

[Iain]

Mirco Marchelli is whose work I have recently seen appeals to the bean.

Log out.

 

[Artyczar]

I can see why you really like Marchelli's work Iain. I love it myself as well. It excites me.

 

[stlukesguild]

This painting by Konstantin Andreyevich Somov would seem to illustrate the old 1960s adage "Make Love Not War" which again seen quite suited to our times. Lovely watercolor.

 

[stlukesguild]

Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin- Beautiful Girl Walking Through The Fields With A Flower in Her Hand, 1889

 

[stlukesguild]

I've long known and loved Edmund Dulac's work as an illustrator:

However, I had never seen any of his non-illustration work... until today. I find this painting of Adam & Eve quite delightful:

Adam is almost as beautiful... as "pretty" as Eve... and the setting almost seems to predict Rousseau.

 

[stlukesguild]

Patrick William Adam: War

A rather timely piece on some of the real wages of war.

 

[Terri]

During the process of cleaning out my mother's home, as she prepares to move to an assisted living apartment, I came across several prints and posters by an American artist I'd never heard of: RC Gorman. He was a Navajo artist and this link shows a treasure trove of his work with several mediums. He died in 2005. My mom spent a few winters in Arizona and visited galleries where she discovered him.

He apparently used one of my favorite mediums, oil pastels, quite a lot.

Here are some of my favorites (the first one here is my absolute favorite!):

Woman is Mystery:

Canyon de chelly Twilight, 1988:

Woman from Fluted Rock, oil pastel:

Pottery Keeper: