Recent art that you liked

[stlukesguild]

An artist that I just today stumbled upon... and whose work I really love... is the Iranian-born, Samira Abbassy.

Samira's family moved from Iran to the UK when she was a child. Her parents repeatedly told her “We came here so that you could have an education”. She studied diligently but became obsessed with drawing at the age of 12.

She deeply studied Western Art History... but also Arab, Persian (Iranian) and Mughal and Hindi Art. She became fascinated with the cross-pollination between Western and Middle-Eastern Art.

Many of her works deal with the experience of being an Islamic Woman and an outsider... a stranger in a strange land. She eventually moved to New York, but admits that the culture shock from her initial move from Iran was far more traumatic than the move from London to New York. New York, she states, was actually far more accepting of her as a foreigner in that it is almost expected that everyone in New York is from somewhere else.

I find her work fascinating on several levels. My own work has been profoundly impacted by Islamic/Persian Art... both the patterns in the architecture and the miniature paintings in the illuminated manuscripts. Where the very term "decorative" has often been employed as a pejorative in Modern Art Education and Criticism, Middle-Eastern Art openly embraces this element. I am also fascinated with the rich sensuality of saturated colors employed by Abbassy and Islamic/Persian artists (as well as artists of the Renaissance, Modernism, Pop Art, and even Comic Books.

 

[stlukesguild]

While I love the rich saturated colors of Abbassy's painting, I also love her drawings:

While color is an essential element to me (in my own art) line is no less important IMO. Favorite artists such as Botticelli, Michelangelo, Dürer, Ingres, Degas, Picasso, Matisse, and Max Beckmann were all masters of line. I greatly enjoy Abbassy's quirky and expressive line.

 

[Terri]

These are great! Thanks for posting!

 

[Hermes2020]

Thank you for introducing her. Some of the richly coloured paintings would work well as inspiration for batiks.

 

[Artyczar]

I love her work also. I love her ideas and her drawings too. I knew right away with those colors you'd be attracted to her work, but I can see there are so many other elements as to why she's so mesmerizing. Thank you for posting these!

 

[Hausamann]

Every year we gain greater access to resources to everything via the Internet. I Today I came across a relative I only heard whispers about, but know know a lot more. This led me to look for anything new about my uncle Wolfgang from Switzerland (who passed away in 1994). Low and behold I came across several artworks of his. He made his living as a commercial artist, but later specialized in producing illustrated maps of Swiss mountain tracks and trials. Hikers and skiers relied on them to navigate the mountains. When I saw these I fell in love with them immediately.

He told my once that he would be go up in a helicopter and with his Hasselblad camera and take hundreds of photographs of the viewed panarmic scene. Then put them together and paint from it. Here is an example...

 

[JStarr]

Jessica Brilli

About — Jessica Brilli

www.jbrilli.com

I admire her ability to find the simple shapes that define a thing, a moment.

 

[stlukesguild]

I found another couple of artists that I didn't know of... and whose work truly fascinates me. They are a "couple" in the sense that they are married and share many common influences and artistic passions.

Jethro Buck is a painter with a special interest in Indian miniature painting. He applies traditional techniques to explore and celebrate the natural world, mainly using hand-ground natural pigments as well as hand-made (and often antique) papers. Buck holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Art from Falmouth College of Arts (2005-2008) and a Masters's degree in Traditional Arts from the Princes Foundation School of Traditional Arts (2012-2014). In 2012 Jethro Buck traveled to Jaipur, in India, to study under the master miniaturist Ajay Sharma.

For three and a half months Jethro shared Sharma's studio and learned the delicate art of miniature painting, from preparing the paper to smashing up semi-precious stones to make paint. Most of all, he learned the art of patience. Buck states of his art, "My work is essentially an exploration of Nature and a celebration of life and beauty. I’m far more comfortable painting this sentiment than I am saying it. I paint in order to explore, to seek truth and find joy in the process."

Buck is an artist that I obviously find of interest with his extensive use of elements of Indian Art, pattern, and gold leaf.

continued...

 

[stlukesguild]

Jethro Buck and his wife, Elisabeth Deane have both spoken of their use of outdated or even archaic techniques and media as a means of countering our current social media and mass media-driven culture's obsession with speed and efficiency. They both found that these older methods forced them to slow down and pay close attention not only to the subject or reference from which they are working but also to each and every line and the harmony of the colors. They find the techniques almost meditative and capable of infusing their work with an intensity... or even spirituality.

Elisabeth Deane is a painter who uses ancient traditional techniques to make work with elements of a contemporary aesthetic. Elisabeth’s colours and detailed brushwork are inspired by Islamic geometry and the miniature painting traditions of India and Iran. Elisabeth won the Helga Todd Foundation Award which gave her the opportunity to spend two months working in Santiniketan, West Bengal. It was this experience that led to her initial interest in the artistic traditions of India.

 

[stlukesguild]

While in Santiniketan, Elisabeth was also inspired by the works of Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore – both his writings, including the beautiful verse of Gitanjali, and his paintings. Elisabeth has since returned to India in 2013 and in 2018, studying under Master miniature painters in Rajasthan, improving her knowledge of stone and plant-based pigments while also enjoying ‘chai breaks’ with their aromas of cardamom and ginger.

"My aim is to yield delight and joy through the geometric arrangement of colour". Many of the colours are stone based - lapis lazuli, malachite and cinnabar - and all have been sourced from the earth and then ground painstakingly by hand. "I am interested in intricate patterns and colour relationships. Natural pigments are beautiful. I'm aiming for that right combination of colours which when brought together create vibrations, ones that sing."

Speaking of the Iranian-born artist, Samira Abbassy, I mentioned how Middle-Eastern (Islamic/Persian/Indian) culture unabashedly embraced the expressive and even spiritual aspects of pattern and "decorative art"... art that Western culture often denigrates. This, of course, is an element that I admire in Deane's paintings.

 

[stlukesguild]

As a married couple, Jethro Buck and Elisabeth Deane have both drawn inspiration from each other. Examples of Elisabeth's figurative work suggests works by her husband.

In one of Jethro Buck's paintings, the artist illustrates the couple's courtship in an almost faerie-tale manner.

In 2020, during the lockdowns due to COVID, the couple created a collaborative 3-D work OCTAHEDRON:

 

[Hermes2020]

I am totally overwhelmed by this couple's work, which I intend to study carefully and learn from. In particular, the metal leaf textures are an effect I would love to use, perhaps even in sculptures.

 

[brianvds]

StLukes: thanks for sharing - I love their work.

There's still a lively tradition of miniature painting in India, often by obscure artists who sell their work for a pittance to tourists. Some years ago my sister-in-law visited India. She brought me back this piece:

And here's a detail:

It is 1,5 x 4 inches in size, and painted on a piece of camel bone.

I love miniatures, and have tried my hand at them, but it turned out I lack a steady enough hand, and even worse, it's absolute murder on one's eyes. My sister-in-law tells me that most of these artists go blind by middle age. I suppose one can solve this by simply using magnification, but I have never found a system that works for me.

 

[Artyczar]

I don't know why...or maybe I know a little bit why, but that couple's art reminds me a lot of Mel Kadel's work. I have followed her through the years. She and her partner, Travis Millard are both illustrators, but Mel shows in commercial galleries. I love the old paper she uses in her work, and it's great to see in person.

 

[stlukesguild]

Thanks for reminding me of Mel Kadel's work, Arty. You posted some of her stuff some time back, and I definitely like it. I actually have a file with .jpgs of a good many of her works... and yes... there are elements in common with Buck and Dean'e work... and ultimately, Islamic and Indian miniatures.

 

[Artyczar]

There I go forgetting again. I hope you were able to add these last images to your folder. I only started making an "Other People's Art" folder in the last few years, so I didn't remember that I shared it already. Oops!

 

[brianvds]

Been following Japanese artist Keita Morimoto, who has a great eye for the beauty in everyday life...

Keita Morimoto - Evening Diner, 2023. Acrylic and oil on linen, 192 x 164 cm.

Keita Morimoto - Fading light. Acrylic and oil on linen, 202 x 192 cm.

Keita Morimoto - Last Train, 2021. Acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 194 cm.

Keita Morimoto - Overnight, 2022. Acrylic and oil on linen, 162 x 130 cm.

Keita Morimoto - Up the Hill, 2022. Acrylic and oil on linen, 194 x 162 cm.

 

[Artyczar]

Wow! Incredible light!!! Thanks for posting.

 

[brianvds]

Still on my theme of the beauty of the everyday, I recently discovered the work of George Shaw, who paints the slightly run-down suburbs where he grew up, just as they are. But somehow drawing or painting a thing turns it into something magical:

George Shaw - Scenes from the Passion - The Path to Pepys Corner, 2001

George Shaw - Scenes from the Passion The Fall, 1999

George Shaw - Short lived, 2020 Humbrol enamel on board, 43 x 53 cm

George Shaw - The gamble. One colour lithograph on Fabriano Tiepolo 25 x 35 cm

George Shaw (b1966) - Mum's 2018

He even paints "nature," in the form of the wooded areas around the city. But instead of pristine habitats with cute squirrels and things, he once again paints what he sees: stuff like a heap of discarded porno magazines below a tree:

George Shaw, Natural Selection, 2015-2016, Enamel on canvas, 46 x 55 cm

And StLukes will no doubt accuse him of channeling Georgia O'Keeffe... :

George Shaw, The Old Country, 2015-2016, Enamel on canvas, 46 x 55 cm

I find his work quite an inspiration, since I am stuck in the boring suburbs where, for a long time, I have felt there is "nothing worth drawing or painting." I now find myself looking at my surroundings with new eyes. There is plenty to paint, I think, though probably nothing that will enjoy much commercial success!

 

[stlukesguild]

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. -Edgar Degas

Why limit yourself to what you see in your environment if you don't find this inspiring? Somehow I doubt that 15th-century Rome, Venice, or Florence were half as magical as the paintings of Raphael, Titian, Giorgione, or Michelangelo... to say nothing of the real world that Degas saw on a day-to-day basis in 19th-century Paris vs what we see in his paintings.