When I was a teen, every time I went to NYC to visit my brother, I would make him take me to art museums. All of them! MOMA, The Met, MOMA PS1, and random little galleries here and there. I just loved finding inspiration in galleries and museums, as well as judging other's people's artwork in these prestigious museums as well. I do not like abstract art. Please, don't hate me for this. Ha! I have posted before on my social media pages how much I despise abstract and have gotten so much hate. "The artist is expressing themselves," People say. No, they are lazy in my opinion and the elite government promoted and glorified abstract art to distort and manipulate the public into thinking it is art. I am sorry, but taping a banana to a wall is not art. Throwing paint on a canvas in random atrocities is not art. Painting cubes of yellow, blue, and red on a canvas is not art. We went from absolutely stunning, precise, and mathematically correct paintings of the renaissance too, throwing up on a canvas and selling it for $120,000. Make it make sense. However, I do agree with the desire for artists to step outside the box. Throw a big fat middle finger to academicisms so called authority. Artist's are known for "I do what I want" attitude, which is very strong in myself. However, just throwing a couple lines on a large piece of paper and calling it art in the name of freedom of expression, doesn't make it art. Here are a few attempts at me painting abstract. Although therapeutic, I wouldn't call it art necessarily.
Well, enough talk about what I do not like in the art world, let's talk about what I do love. These are just my opinions, so don't get your panties in a bunch if you don't agree with me.
Alexandre Cabanel's Fallen Angel.
Painted in 1847, Alexandre Cabanel painted this wonderful oil of a Fallen Angel, Lucifer. It was more like a self portrait for him in a way as he felt defeated in the art world at the time. The Paris Salon, a prestigious art show during that period, didn't approve of Fallen Angel because it was too romantic and showed too much emotion. However, his painting depicts what I think art is. Detail, skill, talent, math, romance, feelings, emotions, chaos, order, and precision. His attention to detail and the way he could bring both a warm and cool mood to his paintings really inspires me and my work. It's almost like you feel empathy towards this Fallen Angel, like he was cast out of his friend group and made fun of. I understand that feeling all too well. So many juried shows I was rejected from in Maui including Art Maui to the Hui to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. I think many artists understand the feeling of rejection, and we somehow transform it too better our work in a way. Here is an example of one of my pieces depicting a ton of emotion although she has no eyes.
Claude Monet's, Woman with a Parasol
I don't like abstract, but I love impressionist paintings. Claude Monet is one of my favorites. I saw his Water Lilies at MOMA one summer as a young adult and just stared at it. I walked right up to the painting and studied his brush strokes. What a massive and amazing painting. Images online do not do it justice. What I love about impressionist paintings is that they still have shape, form, organization as well as chaos involved. The use of colors are incredible in his work with the complimentary blues and and oranges, purples and yellows, and greens and reds, brings the piece to life. Monet was also a revolutionist, which I admire. He too, was involved with the Paris Salon, yet hated it for it's political and pretentious outlook on art. Himself, along with a few artist friends, formed a guild free of restrictions carried out by the Paris Salon. Here are a couple of examples of some of my work I painted with the inspiration of Monet.
Salvador Dali's Swans Reflecting Elephants
One of my very first prints I ever purchased was Swans Reflecting Elephants. I bought it from MOMA one year when I went and saw a Salvador Dali solo show. What a mind that guy had. I absolutely love surreal artwork. How you can create your own reality, world, and story in a painting. You can take something traditionally beautiful and distort it in a way to make the viewer pause and take a second look. Dali had a knack for that. Painted in 1937, Dali used his technique he coined "Paranoiac-critical-method" which involves the artist depicting a paranoid state. Being in fear that the self is being manipulated, targeted, and controlled by others. In a way, that fear is valid as big brother is always watching and attempting to control and manipulate the masses. Below is a few examples of my own surreal art using Dali's Paranoiac-critical-method.
For me, a true piece of art blends technique, skill, rebellion, freedom, symmetry, emotion, order, and chaos. Art is meditative, thoughtful, and fun. Who knows, I might try to involve abstract, surreal, realism, and impressionism into a painting one day.
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