Jim Meskimen

Jim Meskimen studied classical painting and drawing with accomplished Spanish realist, Miguel Arguello in Spain and in Northern California. The works on this page were done for a show at the Johnson Art Collection Gallery on Melrose Blvd. in Los Angeles. The originals are charcoal on paper, approximately 40" by 52".

"The Painter's Daughter"

This is charcoal on paper and the size is 40"x50". I think it is beautiful, especially with charcoal. You can see the emotion on the faces and how well the light is hitting everything in the scene. I always though charcoal was this hard to work with material. The more art I see that is done with charcoal, the more I like the way it looks and can be so amazing. With so much darkness to work with, the value had to have been incredible difficult to work with, having to find the range of grey. 

Yulia Hanasen

Yulia Hanasen is an artist that makes pieces of art out of stained glass and turns them into mosaics. She owns her own mosaic studio in Michigan. There is not much information on this artist because she was on a website with a collection of other mosaic artists.

"Venus"

This mosaic relates to the birth of Venus, the woman in the mosaic being Venus. This mosaic is beautiful and has been carefully crafted to fit each piece together. Having to find a piece with the right color for the value in the hair and face had to have taken great patience. Value is an important key in creating lifelike art.

Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali  was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter born in Figueres, Spain. A lot of his work is influenced by Renaissance period artists. Dalí was highly imaginative, and also had an affinity for partaking in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork to the dismay of those who held his work in high esteem and to the irritation of his critics. He has left a long legacy behind him and will always be an influence for many artists.

"The Persistence of Memory"
9.5 x 13in

This piece is oil on canvas and was painted in 1931. It is one of his most popular surrealistic pieces. It is a very interpretive piece and can be referenced as being in a dream like state. Each object is a representation of a thought. It is art that makes you think. I like the surrealism of it, it is not conventional. It was painted beautifully and is a great surrealistic piece.

Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class life. He'd become pretty successful with his paintings during his time. There are many unclear details about his life and about his art career. Many say he was taught and others say he was self-taught. His works were mostly genre pieces and were colored with a limited pallet, mostly dark colors.

"Girl With A Pearl Earring" 1665

This piece is considered one of his masterpieces. It is oil on canvas and 17.5in x 15in. Being such an old piece of art, it was damaged when discovered and had to be restored, so some of the colors are not the original. I think it is a beautiful, simple portrait. Value-it's what makes it look so lifelike. The value to create the creases and folds in the portrait is amazing. It looks mysterious, in a way. I first came across this piece while watching America's Next Top Model, but had no idea who the artist was until looking it up. 

Alice Zhang

Watercolor Still
10"x7"

Alice Zhang is a professional artist I found on the website, Deviant Art. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a major in Graphic Design. She spends most of her time experimenting with materials and practicing her skills in illustration. While a lot of her pieces are done digitally, she gives them a lifelike look. Though, their is one piece I liked which she painted with watercolor. It reminded me of the stills we did, though, we did ours with charcoal. She used a great range of value to show the highlights and depth of the sheet. It is a great study. I think it is lovely for just being a sheet on the wall.

Yuken Teruya

Yuken Teruya was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1973. He received his BFA from Tama Art University in Tokyo and then his MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Teruya has shown many art exhibitions around the world including the U.S. He currently works from his studio in New York City.

"Corner Forest"

This piece is exactly what it looks like. A group of branches cut out of toilet paper rolls to make a forest on a wall. A lot of Teruya's pieces involve using recycled paper as the material, which he then cuts away at to make beautiful pieces of art. Teruya says "There is a moment when the cut-out branches and leaves start holding themselves up with their own strength. It is as if I am helping the paper awakens its ability to come to life." I love art that involves unconventional materials. What normal people see as trash, an artist sees as having potential. It is amazing to see how art is progressing and developing. Art helps us see what we normally wouldn't. I found this artist by searching for art on google.

Gotye (Darcy Prendergast)

Gotye is a Belgian-Australian, multi-instrumental musician and singer-songwriter. His recent album Making Mirrors has gained international success, and on that record is the song "Easy Way Out". This song, being about depicting the lives of many American workers - a simple, everyday routine. I first saw the video on a music on demand program on t.v.

Stills

Gotye's "Easy Way Out" Music Video

Directed by Darcy Prendergast, the music video was created with the use of stop motion animation. Each piece  of the set seen in the video was carefully crafted to give it a high level of detail. There is a apparent "shabbyness" in the video but because it was created to look that. It takes time and care to create something meant to look unappealing but well crafted. The video obviously took time and it shows time was put into it. With a whole group of animators, cardboard painters, set builders and many more specialists, I think it came out looking great. I enjoy the cleverness of it. Everyone needs to break out of routine, maybe shake things up sometimes. 

Where I found information: http://www.creativefluff.com/recent-posts/gotye-easy-out-stop-motion-music-video/