Anyway, getting back on topic, impossible for me to pick a favourite, here's a couple by British artist Flora Yukhnovich, these were displayed at the Wallace last year, pretty amazing.
I love looking at art, I am always struck by the vibrancy when you see a well known piece "in the flesh". No reproduction (certainly not on the web) can ever give you the feeling an original does.
So many favourites, it's like being asked to pick your best ever tune, but a few of the slightly lesser known artists I like are Leonora Carrington (Pic 1) and David Oxtoby (Pic 2), Joseph Wright of Derby (Pic 3).
I had quite a lot of art that I had to sell when I moved (downsizing). The painting above by Eric Ravillious reminded me of one of my favourite paintings thats now in New Zealand by the artist Felix Kelly. Unfortunately it’s not a very good photo but it shows a similarity in style.
Great conversation and good to see what people like. Was having a conversation about art (in general) with my wife this weekend (while walking around a gallery in Aldeburgh)... she (having been to art school/is a trained artist) appreciates the effort that went into the production... I couldn't give a stuff about that and am much more simplistic, i.e. do I like it? Could have taken 2 minutes or two years...don't really care. We have a lot of art on the walls in our house...some from her friends, some from people she's worked with and (obvs) the stuff we've bought. Really hard to narrow down to a particular piece, but anything by Tom Everhart https://everhartstudios.com/ tends to bring a smile to our faces (we have four of his prints lining our entrance hall... For my wife's 50th, we flew to New York, where I'd tracked them down to, and I got the gallery to open 'specially for her so they could be handed over...6 years on I'm still in credit from that trip!). A friend of mine is an extremely successful artist (his originals are going for about £250k per piece at the moment)...and I don't get them at all, or would want any of them on my walls...all personal innit.
I love Art and galleries. I could spend hours in the Van Gogh in Amsterdam or Tate Modern ( loved the stuff they used to put in the Turbine Hall -the crack in the floor was my favourite. It drove my kids mad). Anyway very hard to have a favourite to be fair but the most moved or impressed I’ve been was an exhibition in Sydney of the work of Brett Whitley who had imagined what Van Gogh would have done if he had carried on going madder and producing more work. Especially his skies etc. great stuff.
Probably my two favourites (but would change daily - e.g. to include Turner's 'Rain, Steam and Speed')
Dali - Metamorphosis of Narcissus
I've got a print of this on my living room wall - I've had a soft spot for it since my sister did a miniature version of it for her A-Level art portfolio. I've also got a smaller one of "Swans Reflecting Elephants" in the hallway.
Like @Stig and @shine166 I'm also fond of MC Escher - at the moment Relativity's probably favourite, but it varies depending on mood.
Art is a big thing in our household. We've been lucky to collect a few nice pieces over the years.
Big shout out to a relatively local artist from Dartford, Dan Lane, who my wife met at his first exhibition and she has collected 4 of his pieces over the last decade now, the last piece being maybe 4-5 years ago or so. Can't post any pictures as we've currently still got them in storage after moving, so you'll find some of his work here and you'll get the idea. Modern meets industrial (well thats how I describe it!). I note his prices have absolutely sky rocketed now he is much more well known from the prices my wife paid (yay!)
For me personally, there are a couple of artists who I follow very closely...
These two pics are very special to us...
Both pieces were created by my eldest daughter Izzy for her A-Level coursework. Obviously that's her pictured with her piece at an exhibition. Here's the explanation behind it...
The exhibition was up for a couple of weeks in the local gallery in Gravesend and I visited a couple of days before it closed. When I went to write something in the guest book, I looked back at previous comments and literally everyone had made a comment about her piece and how it resonated with them. I was taken aback tbh, I knew it was clever, but it caught everyone's attention. That's what art is about, right?
The second image above was about teenage mental struggles - mental health, self harming, bulimia, smoking, drugs etc etc.
The lockdown art now sits pride of place at Mayfield Grammar outside the headteachers office. The other she's had a few offers for but its staying at home with her.
She very deservedly got a grade 9 for her art, thats an A in old money, A** in more recent times. Her art and her painting in particular has gone up a few levels since school as she's regularly producing art that she wants to create now. I've helped her create a website to see if it will push her a bit more but now she's started working in the corporate world, it wont surprise me if this takes a back seat now. You'll find some of her newer stuff on Instagram @izzydriscollart
And here's one more image of the Leigh Lambert painting I got for my birthday a good few years ago now from my wife when she knew I fell in love with it but couldn't push myself to buy it because I winced at the price (about £500 back then!)
It’s called They Think Its All Over. Leigh's work is all about capturing the unbridled joy of children in monochromatic cityscapes. So bloody clever. This picture I grabbed from the web really doesn't do it justice in all honesty.
I love Izzy’s lockdown piece, all the more so because of how she explains her thoughts behind its creation. Do you know if there’s any chance of getting in to see the actual picture, @JohnBoyUK?
(I also very much like the Moore sculptures. And would highly recommend a visit to his studios and gardens on the Essex Hertfordshire borders.)
….and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where you can find various works by Moore, Hepworth and Gormley in the park; the Hepworth Gallery nearby is also well-stocked with examples of her work.
Get thee to a gallery.
well worth spending a day at these if you’re in the area.
Art is a big thing in our household. We've been lucky to collect a few nice pieces over the years.
Big shout out to a relatively local artist from Dartford, Dan Lane, who my wife met at his first exhibition and she has collected 4 of his pieces over the last decade now, the last piece being maybe 4-5 years ago or so. Can't post any pictures as we've currently still got them in storage after moving, so you'll find some of his work here and you'll get the idea. Modern meets industrial (well thats how I describe it!). I note his prices have absolutely sky rocketed now he is much more well known from the prices my wife paid (yay!)
For me personally, there are a couple of artists who I follow very closely...
These two pics are very special to us...
Both pieces were created by my eldest daughter Izzy for her A-Level coursework. Obviously that's her pictured with her piece at an exhibition. Here's the explanation behind it...
The exhibition was up for a couple of weeks in the local gallery in Gravesend and I visited a couple of days before it closed. When I went to write something in the guest book, I looked back at previous comments and literally everyone had made a comment about her piece and how it resonated with them. I was taken aback tbh, I knew it was clever, but it caught everyone's attention. That's what art is about, right?
The second image above was about teenage mental struggles - mental health, self harming, bulimia, smoking, drugs etc etc.
The lockdown art now sits pride of place at Mayfield Grammar outside the headteachers office. The other she's had a few offers for but its staying at home with her.
She very deservedly got a grade 9 for her art, thats an A in old money, A** in more recent times. Her art and her painting in particular has gone up a few levels since school as she's regularly producing art that she wants to create now. I've helped her create a website to see if it will push her a bit more but now she's started working in the corporate world, it wont surprise me if this takes a back seat now. You'll find some of her newer stuff on Instagram @izzydriscollart
And here's one more image of the Leigh Lambert painting I got for my birthday a good few years ago now from my wife when she knew I fell in love with it but couldn't push myself to buy it because I winced at the price (about £500 back then!)
It’s called They Think Its All Over. Leigh's work is all about capturing the unbridled joy of children in monochromatic cityscapes. So bloody clever. This picture I grabbed from the web really doesn't do it justice in all honesty.
I love Izzy’s lockdown piece, all the more so because of how she explains her thoughts behind its creation. Do you know if there’s any chance of getting in to see the actual picture, @JohnBoyUK?
Comments
So many favourites, it's like being asked to pick your best ever tune, but a few of the slightly lesser known artists I like are Leonora Carrington (Pic 1) and David Oxtoby (Pic 2), Joseph Wright of Derby (Pic 3).
Eric Ravilious who, amongst many other things, did plenty of Wiltshire landscapes, and anything by Stephen Wiltshire.
truly amazing what the brain can do sometimes.
Salvador Dali - The Temptation of St Anthony
Max Ernst - Europe After The Rain
Yves Tanguy - Indefinite Divisibility
Kay Sage - Quote Unquote
Hundreds more, but those are probably my all time favourites
well worth spending a day at these if you’re in the area.
https://www.jamescookartworkshop.com/collections/shop
Milton Avery
Velazquez
Alice Neel
I've bookmarked on Google maps.