In which the author acts like a pretentious arty-farty person - PART 1

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. So, I was thinking, as I have nothing to do... save several essays, I'd write another post. I know the all of two followers are sitting on the edge of their seats with excitement, logging on several times every day just to see if I've posted again yet, so I thought it cruel to keep them waiting any longer. Thus, I have decided to do something that'll make my front page look a little more high-brow before I post something not-so-high-brow again like usual. I have, my dear followers, decided to inform you all of my favourite artists, as mine is clearly the best and only relevant opinion in the world.

To save time, I'm only doing drawings and paintings, as if we included photography this would be never-ending. Thus, in no particular order... oh, ok then... how about in order of... umm... yeah, let's go with alphabetical. So, in alphabetical order, I present to you, the eight coolest artists ever ever ever (that I can think of right now). ENJOY!


Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610)

Conversion of Saint Paul

Judith Beheading Holofernes

 So, why do I like Caravaggio? Well aside from having an awesome name, he tends to buck the trend somewhat in character. Most artists seem to have been either pansies or nymphomaniacs, whereas Caravaggio was, by all accounts, a FUCKING LOONY. He was notorious for having a fiery temper and brawling often, and in 1606 he killed a guy OVER A TENNIS MATCH, leading to his being outlawed and having to flee to Naples... where he was arrested for brawling again with street gangs. Basically, if you read up on him, it's quite clear that he would've had a heckload of ASBOs to his name had he lived today.
Arty-wise, his paintings are AMAZING. They really are excellent - the effects he creates with shadow is disturbing and fascinating, just like his dark subject matter. To put this in perspective, I went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa (which, by the way, I was distinctly underwhelmed with). I went around the corner and saw a Caravaggio painting. It was so, so, so, sooooooooooo much better than the Mona Lisa that I couldn't understand why it wasn't placed in a better position. Ah well, more fool those japanese tourists who were crowding around the ML - I got a much better view of a much better painting.

John Collier (1850-1934)

Annunciation

Lilith

 Ok, so, why do I like Collier's 'Annunciation', when it's in a style that I usually hate? The answer is, I'm not entirely sure, but I do. I think it's because of the humanising effect it has on the old biblical tale, that's always seemed to far off and distant to me. I saw this painting whilst researching an essay in first year, and for the first time the Annunciation was put into perspective for me. In any other picture I would loathe the perfect suburban background, but here it's wonderful - it actually serves a purpose. I also like that despite putting the story into a modern setting, he still saw fit to continue the iconography. And I love iconography. I'm an iconography freak. Which is one of the reasons why I also like 'Lilith'... ohhhh Victorian hair meanings. :D Plus, I like painters that can paint. You either have realism or intelligence in good art in my opinion, and that's what's often missing I think in modern art. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good modern art out there, I just hate 98% of what's produced nowadays that's placed under the label of "modern art". In conclusion, Collier rocks.

H.R. Giger (1940 - who knows, he could live forever.)

Futurekill

Lilith

 Yes, I am aware that this somewhat of a departure from what's come previously, but variety is the spice of life people. Basically, what amazes me is that THIS IS DRAWN, with a pencil. (Unnecessary add-on statement is unnecessary). It's not airbrushed or computer manipulated, it's just drawn. Now take a small section of any of his pictures and that alone is talented, but then we have to factor in the sheer mindblowing detail in some of these pictures. Take 'Lilith' for example. I'm gonna go ahead and summarize this for you: HOLY CRAP. You can't really get enough of the detail I don't think from this image here, so try this one. He also does sculptures and designed the alien for 'Alien'. Aside from that he does a great impression of a psychopathic paedophile:

Pictured: nightmares

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)

Annunciation

Flight Into Egypt

 Soooooooo... awesomeness. Cool use of colour, no? Especially in 'Flight Into Egypt' - I really love the illumination from the lantern. What I adore about his version of the Annunciation is the way he paints the girl's body posture and expression - quite different to usual images on this event - it conveys so much. Oh, and awesome use of light in 'Annunciation' too. Kudos to him. :P Okkk... so what does the great god of all knowledge (a.k.a. Wikipedia) have to add to this brief discussion in terms of interesting facts? Oh, well, apparently he was the first African American painter to gain international acclaim. Good for him.

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Right, well having got here I find that this is turning into a GINORMOUS post, so I believe I'll split it here in the middle, so you have something to look forwards to... and so I can go to bed. :P Tune in next time for "In which the author acts like a pretentious arty-farty person - PART 2!"

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 Random Fact of the Day: Apples are more effective at keeping people awake in the morning than caffeine.

Random Image of the Day:

...I really want to know what induced this person to paint this.