FROM INSPIRADO

I have a folder I keep on my computer called "inspirado", where I keep images of anything that may inspire me...from good graphic design to my favorite paintings.  If i'm not particularly feeling a piece i'm working on or I just need some motivation, I'll take a look through hundreds of images i've saved and it almost always gets me back on track. I figured that in light of any new work of my own to post (i'm still working away), I'd add some of these here.

a note: since I have no formal education in art history whatsoever, researching artists I find on the internet or from a museum trip represents pretty much all I know about art from the outside world. It's certainly incomplete and a poor replacement for what I probably would have gleamed from years in art school, but it can be very rewarding...especially when noticing patterns in my interest. for example, one of my all time favorite artists is Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. before I'd ever heard the name though, I'd stumbled upon images of his work over the years and saved them, not realizing I had started to collect pieces from the same artist. when I made the connection; that all these paintings I loved were painted by the same guy, It felt like I had discovered something. (then from there I can go on to learn that he is a good example of a French Neoclassical art, figure out what that actually is, other artists of the movement, etc etc etc.) i know, learning!...how novel. It can be empowering to find you enjoy something without any outside influence, which is fortunate since I rarely have a choice. onto some art:

first, two from Ingres.

this one (above) I saw at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the first straight up portraits that really blew my mind.

this one (above) I first saw at the DeYoung in San Francisco. I had just started painting arrows at the time so I was super excited to see the figure holding an arrow like this. I love how weird this "huntress" looks, and the realism of the dog is unreal. this piece is really small too. check out those trapz.

listing Caravaggio as an influence seems not only totally unoriginal but also kind of ridiculous, this guy is the tippy top of the iceberg. I hope to see this original some day.

some newer stuff. my favorite from Gottfried Helnwein (above), who has a massive body of work. Australian artist Jeremy Geddes (below), a recent discovery.

I have plenty more but I'll save 'em for another post. hope you saw something maybe you hadn't before. more soon - a