Leonid Afremov

There are many times that a painting will catch my eye, but only once in a while will I stop to stare at a painting just to take in the beauty of it. I was on StumbleUpon (yet again), and happened upon the artist Leonid Afremov. What I thought was especially unique was his use of the palette knife. I've always wanted to, but never had the opportunity to use oil paint as my medium, so oil paintings fascinate me.

Towards Love

The effect the palette knife makes fascinates me, because even though there are fairly large blocks of colour, when looked at from a distance, it all comes together.

With the palette knife, it's easy to create the effect of water, so many of Afremov's paintings have to do with rain or water bodies. The reflection on the ground feels real although you can tell it is a painting.

I like these pieces because they have such a gentle and serene feel to them. The vibrant colours often create the illusion of a sunset.

That's about all I have to say; after seeing these I know I want to experiment with oil paints and palette knives.

Rain of Fire

Have a nice Wednesday! And you can check out the rest of the paintings HERE.

Peter Callasen

Time for my weekly blog!  I haven't written about an artist yet, and I just found one now...

Peter Callasen is an artist who focuses on using white paper in many different, interesting and creative ways. He makes miniature sculptures using just white paper and glue!

I thought I would post some of my favourite works by him. He creates powerful images using only paper, but in such a skillful way. Most of his pieces are made from only acid free paper and glue! It's unbelievable how he creates sculptures with such intricate detail using those materials.

"Looking Back"
2006

It's interesting how he uses the cut out space in his paper to enhance his work. In this it is a shadow; I see it as someone who has passed looking back at his life, perhaps regretfully. I get the feeling he did not live as much as he wanted to.

"Erected Ruin"
2007

This next piece kind of reminds me of the first. It feels like an attempt at restoring an old monument. However, the shadow shows that it is not what it once was.

Anyways, have a good week everyone.

Ian Sheldon

Hey guys,

I was looking for something to blog about today and stumbled on the Canadian, self taught artist Ian Sheldon.

Sheldon paints and does photography. I looked through the his collections of paintings, and I really liked the collection Rural Paintings. I love the old, broken down feel of the buildings, somewhat because I like the country and rural areas, and I want to live in the countryside at some point in my life.

"Fading Red Granary"
Watercolour

I like the colour choices Sheldon uses. In the picture shown above, the red outshines the browns and grays in the paintings, and I like that my eye goes to the red before it wanders to see inside the building. But then I saw other ones where the neutral colours are dominant, but there's an unexpected splash of colour, like the one below, with the light coming through the window.

"A Door Unhinged"
Watercolour

Another collection that caught my eye was Skyscapes. It looks like Sheldon paints the sky at different places and times. I like the variety of colours used in the collection, and how all of them set different moods. I like the picture below because it has a calming mood, and you can tell that the sun is rising.

"October Morning Mists"
Oil on Canvas

Well that's it for now, I will be back soon, and make sure to look at Ian Sheldon's website!

Henri Silberman

Henri Silberman is a photographer, who was born in Paris but grew up in Brooklyn. He has been fascinated with photography since he bought his first camera at age 16.

I looked at some of his work and it really gets my attention. Most of his work is in black and white, with a few colour pictures. I've always been a huge fan of black and white photography, because the contrast is so much clearer, and I think you can actually what's going on in the picture better without colours.

Silberman takes his photos at such perfect timing, it feels like I could walk into them because everything would be moving perfectly. Even though the pictures are still, it still feels like they are moving.

"Spring Swan" By Henri Silberman



I love how everything in the photos are bold, and there is high contrast. It gives me something to look at, to think about and that's why I like his work.

"Trees and Shadows" by Henri Silberman

You should check out his website, the link to which I've attached in the beginning of the post! I'll blog again in a few days.

El Anatsui

I found out recently that I am a very privileged student, because I get my artwork displayed at the ROM, along with the world renowned artist El Anatsui. And because of that I'm going to share some information about him.

Anatsui is a sculpter, born in 1944 in Anyako, Ghana, and was taught at the College of Art, University of Science. He has been working as a professor at a Nigerian University for about thirty years.

Much of Anatsui's work is based on traditional Ghanaian beliefs. The mediums he uses change a lot; once it was clay, mixed normally with manganese. After, he made wall panels with wood strips placed next to each other; he cut and burned designs into them.

Some of the themes of his work are destruction and reconstitution, as mentioned before, he likes to base things off traditional Ghanaian and African beliefs and cultures.

Most recently, he has taken hard, ugly metal liquor bottle caps taken from garbage and turned them into something beautiful and flowing. He wants to get rid of metal's usual stereotype of hard, rigid, stiff, rusty material, and let people see that it can be soft, and it can be beautiful. Some also resemble African cloths.


His artwork has focused on a wide range of social, historical and political issues. The art can have many meanings. A historical example is that European traders used liquor bottles as currency when they wanted slaves, and the liquor was usually a product of slave labour. Anatsui's artwork reminds people of this.

Anatsui's work is extraordinary to me, especially his metal cloths. They jump out at me and they look so delicate and soft to touch. He makes me think that metal doesn't always have to be a hard, heavy, ugly brick. It looks almost delicate, like it would tear if anyone were to touch it, and I never would have thought of metal in that way before I saw his work.

I am ecstatic that I am going to be working with such a talented artist at the ROM, and I know it's going to be an experience I'll never forget.


Works Cited:

"Brahim El Anatsui." African Success. 14 Jul 2007. African Success, Web. 15 Feb 2010


Worth, Alexi. "A Thousand Bottles." The New York Times. 02 Feb 2009. The New York Times, Web. 15 Feb 2010.

Krut, David. "El Anatsui New York." October Gallery. October Gallery, Web. 15 Feb 2010. .