Recent art that you liked

[brianvds]

Rather dazzling technique. I have a feeling this might appeal to StLukes:

Christiane Vleugels - Aquarius [2017]. Oil on canvas, 190 x 190 cm.

 

[stlukesguild]

Brian... yes, I've actually seen a couple of paintings by her before. I especially remember the portrait below. While I'm awed by the skill, I still lean away from most examples of photorealism. I prefer a degree of artifice. I like to see the artist's hand in the mark-making, the artificial or expressive use of colors, the line, etc...

 

[brianvds]

Brian... yes, I've actually seen a couple of paintings by her before. I especially remember the portrait below. While I'm awed by the skill, I still lean away from most examples of photorealism. I prefer a degree of artifice. I like to see the artist's hand in the mark-making, the artificial or expressive use of colors, the line, etc...

You will know I'm on the same wavelength here: it's the kind of work I am in awe of without actually liking it all that much. You know my liking for sloppy brush strokes.

It depends to some extent on the subject matter; with some subjects I like lots of detail more than with others. Some artists find a nice balance. I have long been a fan of the work of Dutch artist Joke Frima. She turns the most mundane of scenes into great art:

Joke Frima - After the Spectacle, oil painting, 2018, size unknown.

Joke Frima - One Tomato On The Plant oil on panel 15 x 12 cm

Joke Frima (b1952) - Algarrobbo Oil on panel 43 x 33cm

Looks almost photographic at first glance, but zoom in and you see lots and lots of brushwork:

Being unable to travel much, I have long loved the idea of finding your subject matter wherever you are - there is beauty all round, and we just have to look. But painting it in satisfactory manner is another story.

I am struck by just how small many of her paintings are. See the tomato above, for example (about 6 x 5 inches, for those who don't like metric). How on earth does one make brush strokes that small with a medium as sticky as oil, I wonder!

And then there is the "large-piece-of-turf" effect, which I name after the eponymous painting by Durer.

Albrecht Dürer - The Large Piece of Turf, 1503, watercolor and body color, 40 x 31 cm.

And here is Joke Frima with something similar:

Joke Frima - Wilde Hyacinten, 2007, oil on linen, 50 x 70 cm

Beautiful, but absolutely terrifying - even after decades of practice, I could not begin to draw or paint this sort of thing: lots of semi-repetitive detail confuses me wholly and completely. I almost immediately lose track of where in the complex scene I am, which blade of grass I am working on, and then any attempt at creating a recognizable likeness goes away.

 

[joe1It]

wonderful.
yes, even seeing it you get confused ..

 

[Artyczar]

Brian, those are amazing.

 

[stlukesguild]

These (Joke Frima's paintings) are indeed stunning. I had to follow her immediately on Facebook and Instagram. Her brushwork and to a certain extent, her subject matter remind me a good deal of Eric Wert:

Both painters are very "Baroque" in many ways.

 

[stlukesguild]

Sand Sculpture

 

[musket]

So beautiful it hurts…

Who, the fantasy chick?

 

[musket]

Rather dazzling technique. I have a feeling this might appeal to StLukes:

View attachment 3745

Christiane Vleugels - Aquarius [2017]. Oil on canvas, 190 x 190 cm.

She looks like Scarlett Johansson.

 

[JohnEmmett]

Who, the fantasy chick?

well she's an actress

 

[stlukesguild]

She looks like Scarlett Johansson.

That would appeal to me.

 

[musket]

Right. A fantasy chick. I'm not up on TV stuff, but sorry, she's very nice looking, but not that beautiful.

 

[JohnEmmett]

 

[musket]

She looks like Scarlett Johansson.

That would appeal to me.

You and me both, but it's funny... from some camera angles she looks positively stunning, but not so much from others.

The number of beautiful actresses who can get away with any camera angle is very small. Offhand, I can think only of Ingrid Bergman and Juliette Binoche (who also manages to be seriously beautiful and seriously cute at the same time).

 

[musket]

View attachment 3798

Like I said, very nice looking, but I've had girlfriends far more beautiful than her.

 

[stlukesguild]

I did a reverse image search on the "fantasy girl". It suggests she "looks like" the Scottish Actress, Rose Leslie... but it isn't necessarily a portrait of her.

 

[JohnEmmett]

of beauty I don't compare, I just appreciate

 

[musket]

Well like I said, she's not so beautiful it hurts.

 

[JohnEmmett]

who is then? in your opinion

 

[brianvds]

who is then? in your opinion