"Georgia O'Keeffe" (1919) by Alfred Stieglitz

"Georgia O'Keeffe" (1919) by Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) was an American-born photographer who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an acceptable art form alongside painting and sculpture. Many of his photographs are known for appearing like those other art forms, and he is also known for his marriage to painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

Stieglitz divorced his first wife in 1918, soon after she threw him out of their house when she came home and found him photographing Georgia O'Keeffe, whom he moved in with shortly thereafter. The two married in 1924.

Stieglitz' nudes are often considered the first photographs to recognize the artistic potential of isolated parts of the human body.

source: photo | text

Four paintings by Terry Rodgers

"Beaujolais Nouveau" (2003) by Terry Rodgers, 62" x 66", oil on linen

"Approximations of Immortality" (2003) by Terry Rodgers, 48" x 56", oil on linen

"The Triumph of Venus" (2005) by Terry Rodgers, 63" x 96", oil on linen

"The Vortex" (2003) by Terry Rodgers, 62" x 66", oil on linen

Homework for the art students out there: compare the classic "The Triumph of Venus" by Alessandro Magnasco with the painting with the same title above. Please post your essays in the comments.

Terry Rodgers is an internationally recognized artist who has worked and lived in Massachusetts, Washington, DC, and Ohio. He has had solo exhibitions in Amsterdam and Milan, and participated in group shows around the world. In the United States he has had solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago. He has been featured in numerous publications in America and abroad including Die Welt, Art in America, Citizen K, German GQ, and FLAUNT to name a few.

Rodgers' current work focuses on the life of upper middle class, seemingly adrift in affluence and casualness, unsatisfied and disconnected. These paintings are not snapshots or slices of life, not verite records of actual party situations or family scenes, nor are they diaristic records of his life, but carefully constructed and composited fictions, designed to elicit the most meaning and sustain the maximum amount of ambiguity.

Terry Rodgers attended Amherst College, with a major in Fine Arts. His strong interest in film and photography influenced his style in the direction of representational realism in art. He spends summers each year in Southern France painting from life and photographically capturing the gestures, faces, and figures that inhabit the 21st Century milieu that he depicts in his paintings.

Actress Pam Grier (1949)

Another fan writes: "Pam Grier is ultra cool. Always calm and well articulated, with a remarkably positive philosophy of life. Even before I even knew her name, I considered myself a fan. She paved the way to a new generation of actresses that could held their own in an action picture in a fearless manner, all the while remaining feminine and sexy. Furthermore, if I may share a somewhat macho observation, she has the honor of having one of the most beautiful chest ever displayed in the history of motion pictures."

Pam Grier at the IMDB and at amazon.com.

"Untitled (Brown Flower Bed)" (2005) by Suzannah Sinclair

"Untitled (Brown Flower Bed)" (2005) by Suzannah Sinclair, watercolor, acrylic and gouache on maple panel, 14 x 11 inches

Suzannah Sinclair makes sensual, autobiographical 70s-style paintings. Many of her female figures are lifted from 1960 Playboys and combined with rainbow patterns reminiscent of 1970's disco, wallpaper motifs. Her work is painted on wood stained panels and at times contain a vapid painful yet sensual emotion.

With these new works, Ms. Sinclair's stripes and rainbows find form in the vintage textiles of bedsheets and fashions. The motifs and figures give an uncompromisingly sensual and painful feel. We are lost in the the innocent want, the self and/or the other.

With this disconnection, be it real loss or lust, there is an anticipation of many possibilities. Much sadness and boredom pervade the figures, but the suggestive poses and their delicate rendering suggest a serious beauty, as if everything is just peachy. Vapid melancholia and dull depression can be romantic. Rest, violence and death are lewdly implied.

(source)

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Two drawings by Hiroshi Kaieda

Two drawings by illustration artist Hiroshi Kaieda (1972, Japan)

From an interview:

Q3: What are the best characteristics of your drawing?
A3: There is no warmth.

Q9: Where do you get your inspirations from? (Example: from books, TV, etc)
A9: From word and gesture of people, and from music and movie.

Q12: Do you like any animals?
A12: Human and dog. I love them.

Q14: How do you spend your weekends?
A14: Sleep, day dream and date.

via here and here

Photo by Veronica Riedel

Photo by Veronica Riedel

Veronica Riedel (Guatemala, 1961) studied Journalism and Fine Arts at the University of Colombia, South Carolina. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography and Cinematography at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida and took various courses at UCLA, California, and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado. Specializing in photography, Riedel portrays indigenous people of the Americas reflecting on the consequences of European conquest. She has had numerous one-person and group exhibitions throughout Latin America and the United States.

Photo courtesy Arte Al Limite

Three photos from "China Naked" by Frank Rothe

I love the way the girls' handbags and shoes are in the picture.

Frank Rothe: "For those that know my artist work they also know that I'm not the one who is interested in nude photography. But this work shows human beings naked and no erotic shots."

Over the last decade Frank Rothe (Germany, 1972) has been shooting and exhibiting internationally. He has worked on campaigns and as a staff photographer for international and national publications, including, Amica Italy, Stern, Die Zeit, Marie Claire USA, Esquire, Playboy, Guliver and many more. His work has been exhibited in Galeria Athos Bulcao Brazil, Goethe Institute Johannesburg in South Africa, Prague House of Photography in Czech Republic, Center of Contemporary Arts in the USA and other Galleries throughout the world and Germany.

"Hell is Others (Richter)" by Roman Wolgin

"Hell is Others (Richter)" by Roman Wolgin, Oil on canvas, 200 x 150cm

Roman Wolgin (Moscow, 1978) lives and works in Berlin. His father was a Soviet State painter before becoming an Orthodox priest after the fall of the USSR. Roman graduated from the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. He recently had solo exhibitions at Diana Stigter Galerie, Amsterdam and STORE, London,

"Monday" (2004) by Sharon Shapiro

"Monday" (2004) by Sharon Shapiro

See all posts on Sharon Shapiro. From the Tullman collection.

"Black Sun" (2005) by Christoph Schmidberger

"Black Sun" (2005) by Christoph Schmidberger, oil and acrylic on panel, 48 x 34 inches

Christoph Schmidberger (1974, Eisenerz, Austria) lives and works in New York, USA. From the Tullman collection.

"Mermaid" by Mona Kuhn

"Mermaid" by Mona Kuhn, Chromogenic Print, 20x20" Image, Unmatted, Edition of 10, Copyright © Mona Kuhn, 2006, All Rights Reserved

Beneath the calm relaxed surfaces of Mona Kuhn's (1969) photographs lies an explosive energy: the artist's controlled play with the power of sensuality. Kuhn does more than merely present the body to us viewers. The beauty and tension within her compositions and the flow of volume and focus planes, tempt the viewer, lure the eye and provoke the imagination. (source)

She'll have a new book out in 2007.

"Au Bord de la Mer" by Harmen Meurs

"Au Bord de la Mer" by Harmen Meurs (1891-1964), oil on canvas, 72 x 60 cm

"The artist left Amsterdam during the war and built a house near the town of Putten. His refusal to become a member of the 'Reichskulturkammer' resulted in total isolation of the artist, who had previously enjoyed international attention. During the war he occupied himself with anti-war subjects, such as his series 'Shot during the Escape'. After the end of the war Meurs spent some time travelling through France and Spain. There was a large retrospective exhibition of the artist's work in Rotterdam in 1953. Harmen Meurs spent his last years in rural seclusion, working incessantly." (source)

She looks kinda sad, doesn't she?

Two photos by Richard Williams

Photo by Richard Williams. Copyright Richard Williams & Diva Photography.

Photo by Richard Williams. Copyright Richard Williams & Diva Photography.

Richard Williams (London, England) is a "master of beauty and nude photography" with "an international reputation for quality and creativity, and his work is seen all over the world in print and on the web". (source).

These two photos from the "Creative Images of Women" series are not quite typical of his aesthetic erotic nude photography.

"Liguero (Garter Belt)" (2004) by Dr. Lakra

"Liguero (Garter Belt)" (2004) by Dr. Lakra, ink on vintage magazine page, 47.9 x 31.1 cm, signed "Dr. Lacra" lower right. This work is unique.

This work is from an auction.

Dr Lakra is a tattoo artist living and working near Mexico City. In his parallel activities here, however, Dr Lakra transfers his draughtsmanship onto the idealised figures in 50’s Mexican magazines. Pin-up girls, wrestlers, beauties and cuties are tattooed and 'enhanced' in ink with bats, demons, spiders and the faces of pouting vixens. Like pertinent graffiti, the relative innocence of another era is politicised and the images are infused with a relish for the diabolical. Beautification or social identification, the works are a carnival of the grotesque. Kitschy erotica, ancient ritual, and hallucinogenic visions are fused in a collage of ideologies. (source)

"Nicole, Großkugel" (1994) by Olaf Martens

"Nicole, Großkugel" (1994) by Olaf Martens, © Olaf Martens, Courtesy Galerie f5,6

The East German artist Olaf Martens (born 1963 in Halle, Germany) is interested in staging his pictures like a theatre play. In his often humorously constructed images, Martens combines a take on fashion, documentary, conceptual, social, and even animal photography and art historical and socio-political references. His work cannot be categorised but is a combination of what can be termed a kind of post-modern eclecticism.

Martens undermines the seemingly homogenous facade of the photographic. His works is characterised by uniting contrary details, and refiguring them in a very unique and hybrid manner. This leaves many questions to the viewer, not apparent on first glance.

Olaf Martens studied photography at the highly renowned Leipzig Academy for "Graphik und Buchkunst". His contemporaries are the well-known "Leipzig School" with artists such as Neo Rauch, Tim Eitel or Tilo Baumgärtel.

His work has been exhibited in many museum group exhibitions on contemporary German photography as well as in solo exhibitions at the Kunst Museum Bonn, Grassi Museum Leipzig, Moscow House of photography, Leopold Museum Vienna, German Historical Museum in Berlin, to name but a few. He has exhibited in galleries nationally and internationally. He is represented by Galerie f5,6. His work is included in collections such as the FC Gundlach Collection and the Sammlung Goetz, Munich.

His work has appeared in Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin, Der Spiegel, Art and Stern, Harpers Bazaar Russia and many more. He has published five books on his work.

"Bea Arthur Naked" (1991) by John Currin

"Bea Arthur Naked" (1991) by John Currin, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery, © Private Collection

"Even in the case of one of Currin's most deservedly famous, or notorious, early paintings, Bea Arthur Naked (1991), the sitcom star preserves a certain restraint, dignity even, that militates against the overtly camp/kitsch (or possibly anti-feminist) readings of the picture that so readily come to mind. Perhaps the Arthur portrait is going rather against the grain of the Currin mode, even as it was only coalescing in the early 1990s - the exception that, maybe, proves the rule of perversion." (source)

From Saturday, November 11 – Friday, December 22, 2006 Gagosian Gallery in NY shows John Currin's first exhibition with the gallery.

From a review of the show:

So what shall we call these new hard-core paintings? Will “postporn” do? “Sublingual”? “Pre-op”? [..] Perhaps Currin is really a feminist who decided, even at this late date, to expose the “male gaze” once and for all, like Stanley Kubrick with Eyes Wide Shut. Or perhaps he is just another sexist pig who refuses to admit that he’s trying to keep this subject matter in male hands. Or perhaps he is simply making fun of his own penchant for Courbet. Or perhaps he really gets off on painting porn.

To mark this exhibition, Gagosian Gallery has published a comprehensive monograph of Currin's paintings, drawings and related source materials from 1988 to the present. John Currin includes essays by Norman Bryson, Professor of Visual Arts, University of California, San Diego; Alison M. Gingeras, Adjunct Curator, Guggenheim Museum; and novelist Dave Eggers.

all posts on John Currin

Two photos (1073-1975) by Roswell Angier

"Candy, Mousetrap Cabaret" (1975) by Roswell Angier, Vintage gelatin silver print, 17 x 11 1/8 inches, $3,500. Courtesy Gitterman Gallery.

"Mr. and Mrs. Steve Mills, Pilgrim Theater" (1973) by Roswell Angier, Vintage gelatin silver print, 12 x 8 inches, $2,500. Courtesy Gitterman Gallery.

Educated at Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. Roswell Angier has worked for commercial magazines and on numerous documentary projects. Books include A Kind of Life: Conversations in the Combat Zone (Addison House, NH, 1976). His work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and of the Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA. Angier's exhibitions include a solo show at Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, and group shows at McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, MA; the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; and others nationally.

Angier is currently represented by the Gitterman Gallery in New York City. Be sure to look for Angier's "Train Your Gaze: a Contemporary Guide to Portrait-Making" (AVA Books) to be published in the Fall of 2006.

(source)

"Deux femmes courant sur la plage (La course)" (1922) by Picasso

"Deux femmes courant sur la plage (La course)" (1922) by Picasso

While visiting a beach in the south of France one day, Pablo Picasso was approached by a small boy brandishing a blank sheet of paper. The youngster had clearly been enlisted by his parents to solicit an autographed drawing...

Picasso graciously obliged but, tearing up the paper, drew a design on the child's back instead, signing his name with a jubilant flourish before returning him to his parents.

"I wonder," the artist later remarked, "whether they'll ever wash him again!?"

More Picasso anecdotes.