Artists to Fuel Cognition-assignment#2

Cecily Brown

Brown uses her process in her work by applying thick gestural layers of paint to address the combination of representation and abstraction of the figure(s); as well as the environment around them. this also adds to the sexual nature of her paintings because  the movement in her brush work  imitates the movement of the sexual activity she is portraying.

Soutine

Similarly to Brown, Soutine uses the medium to address his subject and bring it to life. here he uses the heaviness of the paint to convey the weight and fleshiness, or texture of the meat.

Rembrandt

After doing some research, i found that Soutine was inspired by Rembrandt's meat paintings.

 I Love this close up of his portrait. it allows you to see the texture Rembrandt used to create his portraits and demonstrates that the artist used a good amount of paint, left brushstrokes in tact, all the while creating figurative piece with an attention to detail. Rembrandt also made use of Chiaroscuro in his works. the theatrical lighting gives his paintings a more dramatic mood  and also brings more focus to the subject.

Jenny Dubnau

Dubnau's work is interesting because she chooses to take photographs of her subjects first and then  paints their portrait. this demonstrates that conceptually she is interested in photography, painting and their relationship  with eachother through portraiture.  this is indicated through her painting practice, in that she creates works that are highly photorealistic. 

"[...] the literalness of the photograph lends itself to a Realist approach; that is, an art that seeks to show, even if harshly, what is truly there, and to have that "truthiness"[...] provide the emotional springboard for the art."~Jenny Dubnau, a portion of her artist statement

http://www.jennydubnau.com/pages.php?content=statement.php&navGallID=Statement 

Alex Kanevsky

Kanevsky uses the subject of the nude figure to evoke an unsettling mood. he succeeds in doing so through his painterly approach with the medium; where by he gives the impression that his figures are fading away in their eerie existence. the layers  of the painting overlap; they can be seen through each other and even feel as if they run into each other, which also helps to push the mood and image of the figure merging with the surrounding painting.

 Alice Neel

Neel's interest in humanity and more specifically the individual person's humanity is reflected in the the way she paints her figures. her work is very psychological and from my understanding the degree to which she distorts the person's features, is used  to say something about how she perceives that person. her work is greatly expressionistic.

"I do not pose my sitters. I do not deliberate and then concoct... Before painting, when I talk to the person, they unconsciously assume their most characteristic pose, which in a way involves all their character and social standing – what the world has done to them and their retaliation."-Alice Neel