Pettibon and the Peppers

This music video is a combination of two of my favorite things: Raymond Pettibon and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Pettibon's illustrations are striking and stunning. I love his use of limited color and the way he renders image with such grit. I am also a fan of Pettibon's witty chicken scratch messages on his work.  Combining Pettibon with the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a dream come true for me.

Peter Gronquist

                                                                  petergronquist.com
Gronquist is an artist out of the East Bay. He works with sculpture and paint. To me, his work is making a statement about how our culture glamorizes violence and he makes this statement in a very unique way that can't be ignored.

Alex Grey

                                          Kissing, Alex Grey, 1983, oil on linen, 66 x 44 in.    

                                                                     alexgrey.com

I first saw Grey's work on the cover of one of my favorite albums Tool's, Lateralus. The way Grey renders the human form is why I admire his work. Great understanding of the anatomy of the body is clearly displayed in his pieces. Grey's paintings are amazing and baffling to me. I lack detail and accuracy in my personal work, artist like Alex Grey, inspire me to create work with more complexity and more meaning.

MTO

MTO is a street artist from Berlin who is known for his large, gray scale, portraits of pop culture icons. I like how recognizable the people in his work are and I enjoy the size of his work.  MTO is also know for his project where he painted large portraits of other street artists. The portrait itself would be MTO's then the Street artist who the portrait was done would add their signature, creating a great collaboration.

Hyuro

Hyuro is a Spanish street artist most known for his street murals. Hyuro explains that he pulls inspiration from, "look[ing] inwards to analyze myself as a human being..." He works mainly in black and white Hyro says "Black, I feel is the most comfortable color to work with at the moment." That is one of the reasons I like Hyuro, I like that he uses a limited palette. I also enjoy the bizarre characters in his work.


http://www.fatcap.com/article/240.html


http://bumbumbum.me/2010/07/29/hyuro-street-art-2/

Manny Castro

"Pleasure" 36x36

"Gaga Christ" 48x48

Photo of the hanging ruby slippers in LA

Manny Castro is  an artist from Los Angeles. He became known after his paintings were shown in Saks Fifth avenue store in Manhattan. Castro also is known for his painting of Lady Gaga with a crown of thorns.
   Recently Castro hung ruby slippers and bags of a white substance from telephone wires in the Los Angeles area. The slippers caught the attention of local media. Manny people thought that the slippers were a publicity stunt for the upcoming musical "Wicked".
     I enjoy Castro's work very much. I like the statement he made about the Hollywood culture and I enjoy his style of painting.

Sage Vaughn

Misfit (salvation) 2010 oil, acrylic, vellum on canvas 60 x 48 in.

Overpass (swarm) 2008 oil, acrylic, ink, vellum on linen 96 x96 in.

Sage Vaughn is a Los Angeles based artist known for his paintings of wild life combined with urban settings. I like the way he combines loose renderings of organic creatures with detailed illustrations of city life. His color choice and use of dripping techniques are very cool and make his work unique.  His pieces are playful, yet make a statement about the relationship between urban and natural environments.

sagevaughn.com 

Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha was raised in Oklahoma, he moved to Los Angeles in 1956 where he attended Chouinard Art Institute. Rushca uses paint, photography, and drawing to create his work. He currently works and lives in Los Angeles. Rushca is one of the many artists participating in Pacific Standard Time, an event where Los Angeles artist are celebrated. I enjoy Rushca's combination of text with backgrounds consisting of value scales.

                                                           Ripe, 1976 (oil on canvas)

                                          I Would Gladly Pay You... 1990 (acrylic on canvas)

Sylvia Ji

Sylvia Ji is known for her amazingly beautiful depictions of women in her paintings. She creates using simply acrylic and wood panels. Her pieces combine the femininity of women and a touch of creepiness. The end result is a really unique and breath taking work. Sylvia attended Academy of Art in San Francisco. She is influenced by the Golden Age Illustrators and Renaissance art. 

"Maria" 2009

"Eagle" 2010

sylviaji.com 

Ant Farm's Cadillac Ranch

In 1974, Ant Farm planted 10 Cadillacs into the dirt in Amarillo, Texas. Ant Farm was a group of artist who focused on forms of architecture that was alternative of mainstream. I like Cadillac Ranch because it makes a bold statement about architecture and consumerism.