Blown-Up Watercolors, Larger Than Life

Painting on a grand scale demands vibrancy and impact. Sable brushes won’t do, but an industrial strength spray system might. And slim pages of Fabriano cold-press just can’t hold a candle to a two-story white wallboarded expanse. Check out the gorgeous architectural color / textures of Katharina Grosse, now on display at Mass MoCA through October, 2011.

Fly Masterpieces On The Fly

Like a kid in a candyshop, I was, when I found this website, Smashing Magazine, and its Tribute To Graffiti with 50 stunningly beautiful artworks. The one shone above is by Marquis Lewis, but there are plenty more on the site, each more beautiful or more clever than the next.

Lines, Forms & Movement

Stumbled on the gorgeous paintings of Julian Opie at Designboom-Weblog, currently showing at SCAI The Bathhouse in Tokyo, until November 14, 2009. He specializes in portraits, particularly the flat-ish expressions combined with blocked color. Opie also has been working on portraits of subjects in motion, employing an even simpler style. Beautiful stuff.

Timeless Illustration

Nate "Tiny" Archibald - Bernie Fuchs

Beautiful, flowing style and widespread appeal marked the career of Bernie Fuchs. Born in 1932, died in 2009. Fuchs, a well-known commercial illustrator, holds the number 3 spot for most Sports Illustrated covers. His works also included Presidential portraits and U.S. postage stamps.

Swirl-O-Vision

Lots of groovy movement and color in Oliver Vernon’s work. The Joshua Liner gallery has this to say about the talented painter:

Oliver Vernon was born in New York in 1972. He received his BFA from Parsons School of Design in 1995, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn. He has exhibited his work in cities all across the United States including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and Chicago, and has also shown in London and Toronto. His work is part of numerous collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He is exhibiting his work on the following dates at the following places -

UPCOMING

June 5 – July 3, 2009
Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, group exhibition

June 20 – August 1, 2009
Street/Studio, Irvine Contemporary Gallery, Washington DC, group exhibition

September 2009
Irvine Contemporary Gallery, Washington DC, solo exhibition

Brazilian Street Art

Geometrically ordered and crazed all at the same time, with a tribal feel. Fernando Chamarelli’s work is an interesting visual tale of Brazilian folk / pop  culture. Couldn’t you see one of his works in tattoo ink? Chamarelli hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Check out his rich images at his page above, or check out his Flickr stream

The Top 101 Painters of All Time

Who would be on your list? I am more fascinated about other peoples’  rankings than my own, so I perused this list at the artwolf.com with great interest.  Not surprisingly, Pablo Picasso held the top spot. Michaelangelo was 15th and my personal fav, Matisse, was number 20. Lots of big names and names that were less familiar to me. Interesting stuff.

Piranha Paint

Love this clever body painting series over at Arts, design blog. Check out how the fishes’ expressions change with the models’ expressions.

Fallen Beauty

Fallen Beauty David Edwards 2007

I want to go here.