Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine Jim Dine
Jim Dine was born in 1935, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied at night at the Cincinnati Art Academy during his senior year of high school and then attended the University of Cincinnati, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Ohio University, Athens, from which he received his B.F.A. in 1957. Dine moved to New York in 1959 and soon became a pioneer creator of ‘Happenings’ together with Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Whitman.
Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the world’s most famous graphic artists. His art is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world, as can be seen on the many web sites on the internet.
He is most famous for his so-called impossible structures, such as Ascending and Descending, Relativity, his Transformation Prints, such as Metamorphosis I, Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III, Sky & Water I or Reptiles. I wrote this….
Robert Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur Texas October 22, 1925. He is an American painter and graphic artist, closely following the pop art movement. He is fairly well known, mostly for his “Combines” in the 1950s. He used different materials and objects and arranged them in different combinations.
Rauschenberg shared the label “Neo Dadaist,” with the painter Jasper Johns. Neo Dadaist means that the artist puts more emphasis on the importance of the art produced rather than on the concept generating the work. It uses modern materials, popular imagery, and odd contrast.
From around 1952 to 1953, Robert traveled through Europe and North Africa with his fellow artist, friend, and partner Cy Twombly. When they went to Morocco he made collages out of trash and anything he could salvage. He then took them to Italy and put them into galleries. He ended up selling alot of them and the ones he didn’t he threw into the river! Using trash as art is a weird concept, he claimed he “wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises. And if it wasn’t a surprise at first, by the time I got through with it, it was. So the object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing.”
He has a famous piece of work involving a stuffed goat connected to a tire, as shown below, called “Monogram”:
Rauschenberg created the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in 1990 to promote awareness of the causes he cared about, like world peace and the environment. He also set up Change, Inc., to award one-time grants of up to $1,000 to visual artists based on financial need.
William Cochran is an American artist, sculptor, and visionary. He creates works of art using paint, stone, steel, bronze and glass. He and his wife, Teresa often work together in the creative process of his designs. He also works with community leaders to accomplish projects that help to unite neighborhoods and bring new life to the area. One such project was the “Community Bridge” of Frederick, MD., where he used the creative power of people of all ages and walks of life to transform a concrete bridge into a work of art. What started out as a project to beautify and correct a flood prone area in the town of Frederick ended up touching the lives of people all around the world and drawing a once divided community together. The project seemed to take on a life of its own and is now brings people to a once abandon side of town.
Taking on social issues is a theme of Cochran’s work. To the right is a photo of “Pillar of Fire”, a 2000 pound glass sculpture that pays tribute to the AIDS healthcare workers in Washington DC, during the early 1980. In the early years of the AIDS-HIV pandemic, little was known about the disease. These dedicated healthcare workers gave compassionate care to those afflicted with the virus. The workers faced opposition and almost no funding as they worked tirelessly to help those who’s very life were at stake. Pillar of Fire is lit from inside and well as out to symbolize the pillar of fire at night and a pillar of smoke by day that led the Hebrew children through the desert to the promised land. It is a symbol of hope to those afflicted with the AIDS virus and a tribute to those who cared for them when others turned their backs.
One of William Cochran’s best known works is that of the Community Bridge in Frederick MD. He used the trompe l’oeil (French for fool the eye) technique to turn a plain concrete bridge into an old stone bridge complete with statues and ivy. Unless the observer looks closely they will never know they have been fooled. The city still gets complaints from the concerned public about trimming back the ivy that is overtaking the piece of art. Below is the video of the “building” of a community through art.
Cochran is one of a few artists living today to use the Renaissance technique of anamorphic projection, which creates an illusion of depth when viewed from certain angles. The perspective changes from the viewer’s vantage point; this technique was used in the painting of the archangel on the side of the bridge. When the viewer is on the bridge looking over, the angel appears to be leaning out of the bridge and watching over the community. His artwork has helped the city of Frederick win the Great American Main Street Award in 2005 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Below are photos of three of the best known paintings on the Community Bridge.
The Caiedral represents the Samaritan woman at the well and it speaks of how no one should be looked down upon because of the ethnicity. She was selected to become part of the bridge painting to make the statement that the bridge was for all people regardless of which “side of the bridge” they found themselves.
The Hidden Door, is another popular image on The Community Bridge. The viewer must go up to the painted gate and look “inside” through the ironwork to see the hidden door. This part of the bridge is another area that has hidden symbols. The city of Frederick often gets complaints by the public that something needs to be done about the ivy that is taking over the bridge, but it is doubtful the hand painted ivy will grow any larger.
The Archangel, is probably the best known work on the bridge. Cochran used the Renaissance technique of anamorphic projection. Standing at the base of the bridge, the angel looks mis-shaped. The observer has to stand on top of the bridge and look over to see the true image. When seen from the correct angle, the angel appears to be leaning out of the bridge and looking at the viewer.
Below are some of the awards and honors bestowed on William Cochran:
Award for Excellence, National Glass Association
Core Values Award, International Association of Public Participation.
International exhibit, architectural art glass, University of Mexico in 2007.
Public art consultant and design team artist for National Endowment for the ArtsMayor’s Institute of City Design grant for City of Rochester.
Project of the Year Award, American Public Works Association.
Identified in a recent art history textbook as significant figure in public art in North America.
Great American Main Street Award, National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2005 – Frederick, Maryland
Nelson Alexander “Alex” Ross is a prolific name in the comic book industry, known for his hyper realistic paintings and art style. He has worked on several notable series, namely Marvels and Earth X for Marvel Comics, as well as Justice and the industry redefining series Kingdom Come for DC Comics.
Ross’ art is a stark contrast to the more animated and cartoon like art style of other comic book artists, which has brought him both fame and criticism throughout his career. This realism has been compared to that of Normal Rockwell, who, as a young man, Ross admired and whose art he wanted to bring into the realm of comic books. He also admired the works of other infamous comic book artists such as George Perez(Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman, The New Teen Titans). Ross came from artistic backgrounds, as his mother was a commercial artist and his grandfather designed toys. For college, he attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, realizing that he was already far ahead of many of his peers. One area where he excelled the most was in drawing a model and bringing it to life. There was not a class designated for inking comic books, but Ross would later take the painting skills he had acquired there and apply it to comic books, a medium of art that had not at the time(and still usually hasn’t) been applied to comics very often. After attending the Academy of Art, he was later pursued by Kurt Busiek, and editor for Marvel Comics. Having seen Ross’ art, Busiek was interested in creating a series with Ross. The result was Marvels, a 1994 graphic novel that was essentially a celebration of the history of the Marvel universe and its characters, all from the perspective of an everyday Joe.
This was the series put Alex Ross on the map. Ross also created a series called Astro City for Wildstorm Publications(formerly owned by Image, now owned by DC), which viewed superheroes from the same everyman perspective as Marvels. Ross’ finest hour, however, had not yet COME.
Image, the comic book company that originally owned Wildstorm, was known for reveling in the “Dark Age” type of comics ushered in by books such as Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Heroes of moral character such as Superman and Captain America seemed outdated compared to new “edgier” characters such as Spawn, a character who was literally from hell, and Youngblood, a group of muscular showboats covered with guns and pouches. Fans of older characters began to dislike these new “heroes” and what they represented. Thus, in 1995, Alex Ross collaborated with Kurt Busiek once again for Kingdom Come, a tale of heroism and hope in the dismal future of the DC universe. In the story, Superman was in self-exile after failing to stop the Joker from killing the employees of the Daily Planet, namely his wife Lois. Wonder Woman had been banished from Themyscira by the other Amazons for failing to protect the outside world, and Batman was no longer the pinnacle of human physical perfection, with Gotham City reduced to a police state under protection from a legion of giant Bat-robots. In the absence of the older heroes, a new generation of heroes had appeared, clearly based off of the Cables, Spawns, and Youngbloods of the day. These heroes were overly violent and would rather fight each other than stand up for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Thus, Superman reappeared with a new Justice League to end the Dark Age of the world.
Marvel would then ask him to do a similar series for Marvel, and the trilogy of Earth X, Universe X, and Paradise X were created. For their 60th Anniversary, DC asked Ross to make a series of tabloid sized graphic novels(Batman: War on Crime, Superman: Peace on Earth, Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth) with Paul Dini(who worked on Batman: The Animated Series), as well as TV Guide covers promoting the TV series Smallville.
For his work, Ross hires many of his friends and coworkers for models. For instance, in the series “Justice”, Ross based the appearance of Superman’s nemesis Brainiac off of fellow comic book creator Grant Morrison. Alex Ross currently does the bulk of his work for Dynamite Entertainment, who create comics based off of movies, older TV shows, and public domain superheroes from the 1930s and 40s. In series in particular is Project Superpowers, which Ross created with Jim Krueger, his “Justice” co-writer.
To this day, Alex Ross is one of the most popular and important artists in the comic book industry, both for his art and the stories in which it is used in. Using a medium that most would never think of using in comics, he has helped create series’ just as unbelievable.
Thomas Cole was born February 1, 1801 and died in 1848, ten days after his 47th birthday. He founded a school called Hudson River School, which was known for its realistic paintings, like he himself was known best for. He works with oil paints, creating huge landscapes that are amazingly detailed down to the tiniest things. You could probably see individual leaves if you look close enough at the original paintings, not on computer images found on Google. In all, his work is beautiful, both to the eye and to the soul if you know what they are meant to represent.
The Oxbow
He made realistic images of American landscapes and wilderness, though they always seem to have a much deeper meaning that are almost poetic. Like this one, when I first saw it I thought it was amazing, but after someone explained its deeper question it got me wondering just what humans chose for our future. Notice one side is peaceful, sunny farmland while the other is dark, dangerous forest, overshadowed by a storm cloud. Will the storm spread over to the ideal American dream or will it stay on its side of the river, which is even shaped like a question mark.
Mount Etna from Taormina, Sicily
This was painted during his two visits to Italy, where he loved the view of the Etna mountain. This painting, like most of his others, has a foreground, middle ground and distance. Also typical to him, it all has some meaning. The foreground represents the past, and is shown with the ruins of the once great Greek theatre, Teatro Greco. The middle ground is the present, with huge cultivated fields in the valley. In the background is Mount Etna, which shows the eternity in the future.
The Titan’s Goblet
Not all his artwork has a clear message to the people who look at it. This one, for example, has a message that is open for a lot of debate over what exactly it is. Titan’s Goblet is possibly the most enigmatic of Cole’s artwork, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art says it “defies full explanation”. The goblet itself looks like it is part of the terrain it stands on, but the inhabitants live along its rim in a world all their own. Plants cover the entire brim, except where its broken by a Greek temple and an Italian palace.
The Voyage of Life – Childhood
The Voyage of Life is the art series meant to represent the stages of human life from birth to death. This first one, Childhood, shows all the influences and elements introduced to us as children, such as religion. The landscape is bright and colorful, full of life and beauty while the child is in a boat with a guiding angel. All the warmth and beauty most of see when we are little, it shows how this painting reflects the innocence and joy of childhood.
The Voyage of Life – Youth
The second painting, Youth, shows the same rich, green landscape. It would have been almost identical to the Childhood painting but now it has a much larger landscape. This is supposed to show how the child in the previous panting had lived longer and had more experiences with the world around them. In the distance, a castle hovers in the sky, a beacon that represents the ambitions and dreams of man.
The Voyage of Life – Manhood
In the next painting, Manhood, is when the child grows up and faces the trials of life. The paintings could not be more different. The boat is damaged and the river has become a terrible rush of white water with menacing rocks, dangerous whirlpools, and surging currents. The warm sunlight of youth has been clouded over with dark and stormy skies and torrential rains. The trees have become wind-beaten, gnarled, leafless trunks. The fresh grass is gone, replaced by hard and unforgiving rock.
Cole states, “Trouble is characteristic of the period of Manhood. In childhood, there is no carking care: in youth, no despairing thought. It is only when experience has taught us the realities of the world, that we lift from our eyes the golden veil of early life; that we feel deep and abiding sorrow: and in the Picture, the gloomy, eclipse-like tone, the conflicting elements, the trees riven by tempest, are the allegory; and the Ocean, dimly seen, figures the end of life, which the Voyager is now approaching.”
The Voyage of Life – Old Age
The final painting, Old Age, is an image of death.Like the names says, the man has grown old, having survived the trials of the last painting. The waters have calmed and now flow into the unknown waters of eternity. The landscape is practically gone, just a few rocks to show the edge of the earthly world, and dark water stretches onward. In the distance, angels are descending from heaven, while the guardian angel hovers close, gesturing toward the others. Cole describes the scene as “The chains of corporeal existence are falling away; and already the mind has glimpses of Immortal Life.”
Mark Crilley is an author, illustrator, video maker, music creator and father. Mark Crilley started out as a child reading MAD Magazine and watching Monty Python movies. He drew satirical comics and impressed all the school children in his class. Crilley attended Kalamazoo College as a fine arts major, and that was the major turning point in his art career, he met David Small who was his mentor and a children’s book writer. Small pushed Crilley to step it up when he would put out mediocre work. After college Crilley found himself having a fascination for the far east, he then taught English in Taiwan and Japan for around five years. All while expanding his skill sets, studying Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. While he was in Japan, he found his wife and challenged himself to write an original story.
Akiko on the Planet Smoo was Crilley’s first story he wrote and illustrated completely on his own. He says, “It’s Wizard of Oz meets Star Wars” because of it’s fantasy and spacial location. It is about a girl who goes on many adventures through space. Once Crilley was back in the states, he made copies of Akiko and started to send it to publishing companies. Sirius took an interest and it was an instant hit. To this day there are nine comics and ten children’s books. Crilley’s next adventure was Miki Falls.
Miki Falls takes place in Japan and is about a high schooler just starting her senior year, but her plans are stopped she meets a boy named Hiro, who makes for an interesting twist throughout the series, but you’ll have to read them to find out for yourself. Crilley saw Miki Falls as a big challege because it was in the manga style, but learning new skills and tricks was only more exciting for him. There are four books in this series, each named for a season, spring, summer, autumn and winter. Currently Crilley is working on Brody’s Ghost, which yet another challenge.
Brody’s Ghost is set in a not to far off futuristic America. This more realistic style of manga is more of an action series than anything else of Crilley’s. Brody is a loser who just got dumped by his girlfriend, Nicole, and one day while playing guitar on the street corner, he sees something that changes his life forever. Talia is the ghost of a teenage girl who is trapped in purgatory until she can help others, the only way she can is through Brody. He has psychic powers that let him see Talia and communicate with her. Read along with these characters as they track down a serial killer who is claiming victims sooner than they can react, but is Talia on Brody’s side or something entirely different? Find out for yourself by reading on. There are currently three books out in this six book series.
Mark Crilley started promoting Miki Falls by posting YouTube videos, then found himself loving to teach others how to draw in the manga style. Now with 824,941 subscribers and 133,806,848 video views, he is one of the absolute best drawing gurus on YouTube. Teaching viewers how to draw everything from clothes, facial styles and crazy hair, to perspective and how to layout comic books of your very own. Crilley writes and illustrates all of his books completely by himself, while balancing the commitment of putting out a new “how to draw” video every friday. Every now and then, Crilley does a “message to my subscribers” video, in which he takes questions about anything and answers them while drawing or tweaking his own comic books. He really cares about his audience and he isn’t shy to say thank you to everyone who has supported him, either by buying his books or just watching his videos. If you are at all interested in drawing or the manga style, check out his videos or his books.
Boris Vallejo was born on January 8, 1941 in Peru, and immigrated to the United States in 1964. He is married to Julie Bell and has two children from his previous marriage to Doris Vallejo, as well as two step-sons. Julie Bell, and his step-sons, Anthony Palumbo and David Palumbo are all painters. His daughter, Maya Vallejo is a professional photographer, and his ex-wife, Doris Vallejo is an artist and a writer.
Vallejo works mostly in the Science Fiction and Erotica genres, painting them almost exclusively. He began painting at only thirteen and gained his first job as an illustrator at sixteen. After his immigration he soon gained fans from his illustrations of Tarzan:
Conan the Barbarian:
Doc Savage:
and several other fantasy characters, which led to commissions for movie posters, advertisements and artwork for many collectibles, including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards, and sculpture.
Vallejo paints a lot of erotic pictures, often using Julie Bell for a model, though he is known for using female body builders as well.
His paintings are always full of life and color, unlike most fantasy artists. Not only is he a master of his art, but he has touched both ends of the science fiction spectrum. From heroic barbarian warriors, to beautiful landscapes, and strange alien beasts he has done it all.
His preferred medium is oil paints, however he has done several graphite and pen drawings, as well.
Even in black and white his drawings come to life.
Despite his astounding paintings and magnificent drawings, Vallejo can be considered a jack of all trades, as he is also an accomplished violin player. He began playing as a child, but put this passion aside for a long time. After really getting his foot in the door with several illustration companies he began to play again and enjoys it to this day.
David Garibaldi is an American performance artist from Los Angeles, California. He was born in 1982. His inspiration is other’s graffiti on the streets after he moved. He moved to South Sacremento when he was young. As a high school dropout, he made a living through his art. He has painted many large canvases to make it day-by-day using music, paint brushes, and canvases.
David paints anything from his vision and culture of a type of music such as jazz or rock and roll, to music performers such as Elvis Presley, Slash, and Jimi Hendrix.
The movement of dancing and soul in jazz music is especially symbolic to Garibaldi. He has painted many canvases to show how different jazz music can make you feel when you listen to it or play it.
Musicians and music are very symbolic to Garibaldi and are huge part of his performance whether it’s in his studio/garage or during one of his live shows. In 2003, David Garibaldi began to turn his illustrations on paper into paintings on canvas. Garibaldi would paint live at urban jazz sessions, nightclubs, and hip hop events for direct influence by the music, and he began to create popularity about his work along the way.
David Garibaldi creates most of his images using his body movement and brushes while listening to music. In other words, he dances while he paints! Some of his musical inspirations include: The Beatles, U2, and Lady Gaga.
After getting more well-known, his paintings have entered art galleries all around the world. His painting of Mick Jagger (lead singer of The Rolling Stones) was painted when he was invited to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
He ended up heading to audition in the television show “America’s Got Talent”. He finished in 4th place. During his auditions, he painted Ludwig Van Beethoven, Mick Jagger, the Statue of Liberty, and many others in under 6 minutes.
He used to use his garage as an experiment when he practiced his graffiti, but now its his studio. Since, his art has been so popular that not only are there his famous canvases, but he has extended his art to an international brand and being reproduced into iPhone cases and other products. David Garibaldi is now a popular live performer all around the country!
He now uses his art and canvases to raise money for charities such as the Special Olympics and Echoes of Hope. He has raised over $1,000,000 for these charities through his show “Rhythm and Hue” and says he is just getting started. Rhythm and Hue is a performance art show where artist David Garibaldi creates 6 foot portraits of pop icons in minutes to music. Garibaldi’s unique show is extremely versatile and has been featured with celebrities. It has raised money for various charities.
Camille Rose Garcia is an artist based in Los Angeles, California who is most famous for her unique, dark style. Garcia was born on November 18, 1970 in Los Angeles. She was the daughter of a Mexican filmmaker and her mother was a painter, but her parents divorced and she was left to be raised by her mother and sister. Garcia grew up living near and going to Disneyland and visiting punk concerts. In 1992, Garcia received her Bachelor of Fine arts from the Otis College of Art and Design and in 1994 she received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California. Camille Garcia mainly paints and sculpts.
Garcia’s artist style tends to be dark yet it depicts very stylized characters. Her work shows both people and animals with misshapen and unnaturally small or large bodies. Fairy tales, Disney, and other cartoons have been the inspiration for many of her works. She has also published several books, including: The Saddest Place on Earth, a book of Garcia’s art, The Magic Bottle: A BLAB! Storybook, a graphic novel, and Tragic Kingdom, another book of her artwork.
Garcia’s artwork has appeared in a number of magazines including Rolling Stones, Juxtapoz, Flaunt, Blab!, and Modern Painters. She also has works that appear in the collections of the San Jose Museum of Art and of the LACMA.
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