Wednesday 26 September 2012

LeRoy Neiman-Man of Magnetizing Arts

LeRoy Neiman is one of the most popular modern artists in the United States today. His bold, graphic paintings showcase his mastery of classic technique but also present a clear signature style. LeRoy Neiman paintings utilize brush strokes as well as depth to lend an essence of movement to his most famous pop culture related works of arts. This is especially important in his countless paintings that capture major sporting event and has led to Neiman being called the greatest American sports artist of all time.

Neiman was born in 1921 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He grew up with a passion for art but no real form training before he entered to fight for the country in World War II. After his service in the Second World War, Neiman began his education in the arts at the Art Institute in Chicago where he continued to teach for ten years after graduating. Neiman began his iconic pop culture art career by working as an illustrator for Playboy magazine in 1954. He continued to contribute to the magazine over the next 50 years. His most famous work for Playboy was in the many iterations of his Femlin character for the Party Jokes page. Neiman also worked on a feature titled “Man at His Leisure” in which he would illustrate his exotic travels. This, no doubt, played nicely into the type of leisure activities Neiman paintings would go on to favor throughout the remainder of the artist’s long and magnificent career.

Leroy Neiman’s art career was propelled to the next level after 1960. He embraced his dual loves of art and traveling and began covering global sporting events and leisure activities. During this period, he famously painted Formula One races, Golf Tournaments, Tennis Championships, Boxing starts, Kentucky Derby, and many other important worldwide events. These iconic images helped Leroy Neiman paintings find a new, generation defining role. The things they captured were embraced by the public as well as the artist’s unique style and ability to portray movement in a new way. During this period, Neiman also began to paint iconic landmarks and scenery. Leroy Neiman’s striking Brooklyn Bridge and Arc de Triompheare excellent examples of this. He went on to capture many celebrities and other iconic events like the Olympics and the Academy Awards, further imbedding his reputation as one of the most famous pop artists of all time. He also painted many regular leisure activities includeing the famous Neiman art Wine, Women, and Cigars, and Baccarat.

Leroy Neiman continued to paint up until the very end of his long and impressive career. He dies on June 20, 2012 in New York City at the age of 91. LeRoy Neiman artwork has stood the test of time, and his work is still extremely collectible. The collector can find LeRoy Neiman art for sale today in many galleries, public and private auctions, and websites. Neiman’s unique artistic style and relatable subject matter have catapulted his work into some of the most collected and celebrated of an American artist. Neiman original art and prints remain highly popular among art critics and collectors and will continue to well into the future.

Sunday 16 September 2012

Steve Kaufman - Master of the Screen print and pop art

Steve Kaufman is widely regarded as one of the most famous pop artists in the world. Kaufman’s style has evolved multiple times throughout his career, keeping his art fresh and relevant to a modern audience.

Steve Kaufman’s art career began very early. He grew up with a love of painting and his artistic skills were evident from a very early age. He officially began his art career at 8 with his first art exhibit. By age 12, he was painting Pet Rocks sold at Macy’s in New York City where he was born and raised. But Kaufman first became a household name in the pop cultural art community when he met Andy Warhol at Studio 54 in New York City and began working as his apprentice in the famous Andy Warhol Factory. At age 29, Warhol went in his own direction and opened up his own successful art studio.

Steve Kaufman art has a unique production style that sets it apart from the work of other artist’s. His work is often compared to his mentor Andy Warhol in style, and while the two share many things in common in terms of subject matter and style, Steve Kaufman painting do have unique elements that make them representative of the artist. Kaufman uses techniques of print making and painting combined in a single image to create a mixed media quality to the art. Even within the same series of prints, Kaufman will often hand embellish each piece so that no work is exactly like any other. Some of the most famous Steve Kaufman screen print includes Frank Sinatra, Marilyn, and Cohiba.

Steve Kaufman’s artwork is not only socially popular, but is it also socially relevant. Growing up in New York, he supports over 150 charities and causes that are close to home. He is a major supporter of ending homelessness and gang violence. He won the Underground Artist of the Year Award for creating 55 murals supporting racial harmony. His famous art has also been painted to support AIDS research, Meals on Wheels, and many other social consciousness movements within America.

Steve Kaufman has also been commissioned to paint two portraits of famous European artists. The Picasso Academy of Fine Art requested a painting of the famous French painter. He is the only American that has been given the Picasso Ring, which is an award given each year to the one artist the association deems most in the spirit of the late artist. The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam also has a portrait of Van Gogh painted by Steve Kaufman. He has also painted portraits of Rembrandt and Dali. Steve Kaufman paintings hang in the Smithsonian and in the White House, as well as in hundreds of museums and private collections around the world. His art has recently become highly popular for collectors in their home thanks to the popularity of buy art online and through public auctions.

Steve Kaufman passed away in 2009 at the young age of 49. The artist suffered his second stroke and died from complications. Throughout his career, Kaufman’s popularity remained constantly high and he produced a shockingly large catalog of art during his short but prolific art. His art remains as popular if not more popular while he was alive.

Monday 10 September 2012

Dale Chihuly- The Master of Glass Art


Dale Chihuly is one of the most famous and fascinating modern American artists. Dale Chihuly artwork has become so famous because of the artists wide range of artistic experience and blending or artistic disciplines and multiple points of view to create a truly unique final product. He is best known for his exquisite glass work which has propelled the medium to the forefront of the modern art scene.

Born in 1941 in Tacoma, WA, Dale Chihuly grew up at a time when glass was just heating up as a medium in the art world. Although glass blowing in an ancient art with deep historical roots, it was only beginning to become a widely appreciated art medium in modern America at the time Dale Chihuly began studying art. After studding interior design at the University of Washington, Chihuly continued to broaden his artistic horizons by enrolling in the nation’s first glass program at the University of Wisconsin. After that time, he received the prestigious Fulbright scholarship to study glass blowing at the historic Venini factory in Venice, Italy. The Venini factory was groundbreaking because of their team approach to glass blowing where many hands touch a single piece of art. Dale Chihuly’s art went on to encompass this group technique in its implementation. Later in his career, Chihuly was sidelined from the process due to an accident and declining health issues. His incorporation of the team approach to glass blowing early on in his career allowed him to be the mastermind of how the art would come together without blowing any of the glass himself.

Today, Dale Chihuly is best known for his fine glasswork. His long and diversified career however has run the gamut due to extensive training among multiple art disciplines. Dale Chihuly paintings and drawings have also gained widespread critical acclaim. Also, he incorporates elements of many mediums into his work. The most famous Chihuly glass sculptures utilize a basket weaving technique based on his interior design training. Dale Chihuly has also incorporated images for Navajo blankets by painted them on glass in his famous Navajo Blanket Series, completed in 1975. His interested and love of nature has led Chihuly to do many hybrid projects bringing together elements of art and nature. His love of botanical gardens has led to many garden, arboretum, and greenhouse installations.

Dale Chihuly artwork can be seen all over the world. His work is featured in over 200 museums, multiple travelling shows, as well as countless hospitals, public spaces and private corporations. Some of his most famous massive art installations can be found at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and at the Seattle Greenhouse which Chihuly masterminded and created in 2012. While his most iconic pieces are giant art installations, his work is also extremely popular among independent collectors. The ability to buy art online has caused a serious upsurge in Chihuly art featured in private collections. Dale Chihuly artwork is some of the most recognizable and unique in the world today. His diverse artistic training and interests has yielded an incredibly eclectic and Avant Guard point of view.

Sunday 9 September 2012

Peter Max- A Look At His Most Famous Paintings

Peter Max’s art career has been a long and varied celebration of Americana. His patriotic paintings have made him a quintessentially American artist whose unique style and brand of artwork has made his paintings extremely recognizable and appreciated by the masses and critics alike. While his artwork has undergone many transformations both stylistically and with the themes it portrays, this ability to adapt has kept Peter Max art modern and relevant to the pop culture audience he paints for.

Peter Max art first gained popularity during the 1960s poster phenomenon. His paintings were a sign of the times, and they included intergalactic and psychedelic themes. They used bright colors and vivid black lines that would go on to become his signature and later be seen in future Peter Max paintings. Peter Max’s most famous posters include Life is so Beautiful, Capricorn, Dove, Love, and Adam’s Cosmo. The posters played an important role in the 1960’s counter cultural movement. Today, Peter Max is known as the most famous living pop artist. His reputation as a pop artist began in the 1960s after his famous posters epitomized the attitude of a generation and provided a vivid symbol for current popular culture.

As Peter Max’s career evolved in the post 1960s, his reputation as a pop artist remained as solid as ever. As counter cultureless lost its social relevance, Max embraced more patriotic themes. His defining Liberty series includes the paintings he is most well known for. Every year on July 4th, he would paint a memorial image of the iconic American sculpture. The most famous of these are his Lady Liberty and Statue of Liberty paintings. While the liberty series is mostly comprised of Peter Max paintings, he also began working with mixed media on them which demonstrated the further evolution of artistic mediums throughout his career. His most classically patriotic pieces aside from the Liberty series are Peter Max paintings of U.S. presidents, beginning in the Reagan administration and moving forward to include his famous 100 Clintons. Max went on to paint paintings of other global leaders in commemoration of important events or political issues, including his Forty Gorbys and 44 Obamas.

Throughout his career, Peter Max has further solidified his reputation as the most famous modern pop artist. He has painting countless celebrities and scenes of celebrities including Wilie Nelson, Shaquille O’Neil, and most recently Taylor Swift. Peter Max paintings also include documentation of important events within the pop culture world. He has captured the 1994 Fifa World Cup, the Grammy Awards, the Super bowl, and many others.

In recent years, Peter Max has again shifted his focus to keep up with modern times. While he continues to crate masterpieces of patriotism, celebrities, and popular events, he has recently begun capturing world issues that are important to him. With the rising social consciousness of the celebrity community, this diversity keeps his artwork fresh, modern, and sought after. Day Dream and Border both emphasize world peace and the environment- issues that personally important to the artist as well as the great pop culture community that serves as his artwork’s primary audience.

Monday 3 September 2012

Charles Levier- A Glance at His Life & Art!


Born Maurice Verrier, the artist often known as Charles Levier is most of the most famous in both French and American history. The famous artist signed paintings with both names, and this approach has led to considerable confusion among many scholars. His work under both names is of the same subjects, material, and style, making his signature art easy to identify for the trained critic or collector. Although his heritage was French, he shared his time in France and America throughout his career making a huge impact on the art scene and culture of both nations.

Born in Corsica in 1920, Levier held artistic promise from a young age. At 17, he enrolled at L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs. In his early education, he studied with Andre Lhote and Rouault. However, Levier’s early career was halted due to Levier’s military service for the French Army during World War II, where he served primarily in the North African conflict. His career took off in 1949 when he opened his first one man show in Lyons. He opened his first American show in Los Angeles one year later. He spent significant time in American and France and his art gained fame in both locations.

Charles Levier was a favorite artist among the pop culture elite in America. The rat pack, including Frank Sinatra, as well as Jackie Kennedy was major collectors of his work. His work referenced earlier French work due to its emphasis on cubism. The same design principles were echoed in the midcentury modern movement in America, making Levier’s art particularly popular during the 1950s and 60s in America. In 1955, the famous gallery owner Dr. Lilienfeld took notice of Levier’s work. Dr. Lilienfeld’s taste was widely respected, and his endorsement of Levier catapulted his art career to a new level. Dr. Lilienfeld was such a strong advocate of Levier’s talent and vision that many art historians consider Charles Levier’s broaden success in American impossible without his support.

The oil paintings created by Charles Levier vary in subject matter. Most are of city or landscapes or women. They are of both American and French subjects, but the quality of his art is always uniquely French in style. He is considered a figurative painting, and his paintings and both expressionistic and dramatic. Levier used colors to create feelings and perspective within his artwork. He used a range of mediums. While his most famous works are oil paintings, he also used watercolor, acrylic, and other forms of painting. He also did some more abstract work that has gained widespread popularity among collectors, especially in recent years.

Charles Levier’s most famous oil paintings include Camaraque, Fleurs Sur Balcon, Two Nudes, Village Corde, Pair of Young Ladies, and Miss Liberty. Today, Levier’s original art can be seen at the famous Museum of Modern Art and the Menton Museum of Art in Paris, the Atlanta Museum, the Seattle, Museum, the Evansville Museum, the New Orleans Museum, and the San Diego Museum. Charles Levier passed away in 2003, but his famous artwork continues to let his legacy live on.

Dale Chihuly Glass Sculpture