Favorite Visual Artists - Top 20?

Cafe Society
1

Leaving out the Big Guns (Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rubens, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, David, Monet, [yes, I know I skipped a bunch of years there, I’m just trying to get away from Pretty Much Universally Known And Loved], Manet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, and Norman Rockwell.

Also no Thomas Kinkade, I’m sick of discussing him.
Who rocks your world?
Some of my favorites (no particular order):

Chuck Close
Wayne Thiebaud (may have pop-ups)
Francis Bacon
Gustave Caillebotte (this work is better known )
Mary Cassatt
Richard Diebenkorn (ooh, like this one even better)
John Singer Sargent

2

Damn old things: Praxitelles, Exekias

Brilliant Flemings: Rogier v d Weyden
Gerard David

Italians!
Antonello da Messina
Giorgione and Titian (the big names of my list, I guess), of course. Fra Angelico. Lorenzo Lotto.

How do I keep this to 20?

Ok, first things that come to mind, most random list evar. . . Sesshu. Whistler. Hercules Seghers. Herri met de Bles. Max Ernst. Joseph Beuys. Hokusai. Carel Fabritius. Jan Lievens. Cornelis Ghijsbrechts. Sigmar Polke. Greco. And, um. . . Charles Meryon.

Sorry, too lazy for links tonight. The list of things I hate is much easier because it’s so much shorter and intensely felt.

3

Robert Arneson
The Art Guys - theartguys.com/
James Rosenquist
Howard Finster - finster.com/
Bob Rauschenberg
Kehinde Wiley - kehindewiley.com/
William Wegman
Ben Shahn
Cindy Sherman
Francis Cape - franciscape.com/
Keith Edmier
Lisa Yuskavage
Rachel Whiteread
Jim Campbell
John Currin
Ryan Mcginness - ryanmcginness.com/
Gerhard Richter
Gunter Wirth
R. Crumb
Ernesto Neto - Search: ernestoneto | Flickr

4

My 2 favorite visual artists are Hieronymous Bosch and Goya, but I assume that they violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the OP since they are certainly “Big Names”.

But my favorite piece of visual art ever is Republic, by New Order. Not just the cover – the inside art to the CD continues to tell the story of the American “Republic”, a world where everyone puts on a happy, brave face, but in the end, are alone in themselves. But for all the ultimate loneliness, the vast expanses of America make for limitless possibilities and a sense of hope. The amazing thing is most of it was taken from stock photos.

5

For old stuff, I adore “Winged Victory” (Nike of Samothrace) .

New, there’s Dale Chihuly

“Big Man” by Ron Mueck gets me.

Maurice Prendergast

Klimt

Whistler
O’Keefe
Pollock
Ansel Adams
Hopper

In general, I adore contemporary Haitian paintings.this kind of thing

6

Gil Bruvel
Jacek Yerka
Hirofumi Nakamura
Shouta Kikuchi

7

Scott Prior. I could stare at almost any painting of his for hours. A bit of trivia - he’s Kurt Vonnegut’s son-in-law.

Also, my favorite Caillebotte. Nothing special onscreen or in a print, but in person? It’ll take your breath away.

8

I’ve always liked Ivan Albright Discover Art & Artists | The Art Institute of Chicago

I’m also fond of one of Chicago’s own, Ed Paschke http://www.edpaschke.com/home.html

Georgia O’Keeffe, of course. But I think we’ve been oversaturated with her work in the last couple decades, so I won’t bother to link.

I’ve also loved Diane Arbus since forever. Diane Arbus

9

Kees van Dongen
Edward Hopper
Joseph Cornell
Edvard Munch
Diane Arbus
Gustave Caillebotte
M.C. Escher

10

I like Bosch, too.

11

oooooh, yeah - speaking of famous relatives - Lucian Freud

Interesting to see other Caillebotte fans (is he pronounced “ki-bot” with a long I and short O?)

12

Oh…I love Chihuly. He has transformed glass into something…otherworldly.

13

Yeah, though it was rather annoying going to the Bellagio in Las Vegas and seeing all the Chihuly flowers packed together all across the roof. Done right, I suppose that it could have had a abstract art thing going for it. But whoever ordered them just wanted quantity. It looks like suck.

14

Two favorites right off the top of my head…

Mark Ryden and Shag.
Ryden takes Disney and Margaret Keane like images and gives them a not so subtle twist.

Shag is just Shag, man. Like, if I have to explain it, you wouldn’t understand.

15

This is an interesting article that argues that Bush’s policies and his taste in art dovetail in unsurprising ways.

16

Sucked, and spat, and left to curdle.

I saw his show in Minneapolis several years back, at the Walker Art Center. A series of small rooms, with different kinds of installations. I liked the overhead one best there, but it was small and intimate.

17

Hit the exhibition overview at the Chicago Garfield Park Conservatory Chihuly installation http://www.chihuly.com/installations/garfield/index.html

Less is definitely more. I adore this exhibit.

18

Yep, saw it. I agree, absolutely fabulous!

19

Just because I don’t want to see this thread die, I’ll put up a nifty link to other glass art. http://www.glassartistsgallery.com/sum-wall-art-1-mirrors-1-0-catalog--.htm

I’m positively mesmerised by this medium. One of these days I’m gonna grab my 'nads off the shelf, dust 'em off, and commence with the mosaic.

20

Wassily Kandinsky would head my list. Also, in no particular order (and with no regard to whether it’s “fine” or “commercial” art, not that those are necessarily exclusive):

Saul Bass (graphic designer)
James Nachtwey (photojournalist)
Sebastiao Salgado (photojournalist)
Joan Miro (painter)
Zuzana Licko (font designer)
Vincent van Gogh
Gerhard Richter (painter)
Michel Gondry (music video/film)
Walter Iooss (sports photographer/photojournalist)