Influenced and Inspired...

To be frank, I think I might actually like blog posting, if I can figure out what I am supposed to talk about or how (more importantly) I should talk about it.  I love to talk, and I do a lot of it, but how to make it short and sweet...does that matter...am I talking to myself, am I talking to a fan, or a random reader?   Ugh... On the other hand...

I am beginning to forget those questions and simply focus upon just capturing, in a succinct form, a bit of the torrent of thoughts I have in a given day regarding the art I want to make.  I had been trying to capture those thoughts in the form of drawings and sketches, but sometimes they are simply words...just the other night I started the foundation of a podcast.  The subject that I'll be talking about is a concept I am defining that I call the 'Artiverse...'   More on that later, but for now and I want to talk about something I have almost totally skipped over.  Influencers, who are mine, and why...?

The list is quite eclectic, but I think that if put to task I would be able to clearly explain why I feel influenced the artists that follow: I feel directly influenced by (in no particular order) James Terrell, Richard Serra, Alexander Calder, Richard Avedon, Platon, Irving Penn, Carrie Mae Weems, Faith Ringgold, David Hammons, Coco Fusco, Bill Viola, Tony Oursler, and perhaps Francesca Woodman, to name a few.

• I love the intersection of science and art.  James Terrell delivers for me in that respect.  Architects are some of my favorite artists (none in particular, just in general), but Terrell and his understanding of light and the function of the human eye and human perception are magnificent to me.
• Richard Serra is an artist who in minimalist style delivers scale in a way that touches my soul.  I don't appreciate scale for its overpowering nature, but for the mastery that is required in manipulating the a medium such as steel, at the scale he did, and to produce the beautiful forms that he did, is art I appreciate at a very deep level.
• Alexander Calder and his piece The Spider, 1940, is a master piece for me.  I'd own it if I could.  Just so that it can remind me of the beauty in balance.  I have often imagined what it might have been like as he created that piece.  The challenge and the rewarding end result.   The beauty for me is in the thought and the problem solving, and then of course the resulting artwork.
• Richard Avedon has only a small piece of my art heart.  But all of my heart is important, so small or large piece, it affects me.   The artwork In The American West was a great inspiration for me, when I asked myself the question, what do I produce as a photographic artist, to speak to the issue of insularity in America.   The scale of the people seemed important to me, the clarity enabling me to see and almost feel who the subjects were was impactful as well.   His lighting did not escape me either.  As a photographer, I was enamored with its consistency, the quality of the light and how it rendered the details of his subjects was amazing.  Again, this work was a great inspiration for me and helped me understand my own sensibilities.
• Platon's portraiture affects me in a similar respect to how Avedon's Texas project did.  The aesthetic of Platon's works are the what I appreciate.  Unfortunately, I only see the common aesthetic between his many portraits.  It is that flavor that they all have in common that makes me interested and feel influenced by his work.  The crisp nature is powerful and yet it doesn't seem to take away from the warmth that seems to flow from most of his subjects.   His Obama portrait is my favorite portrait of all photographic portraits.
• Irvin Penn gives me hope and inspiration.   His series of photographs of families and other townsfolk groups, made as he traveled South America and Africa, inform me of ways that I feel are respectful and uplifting when putting a person or people on exhibition.   I asked myself is it ok to have done that, or to do that...he did it so beautifully that I cannot help but believe that the people themselves would say yes...although I do not know that for sure.    I found his treatment of people with all color of skin to be so rich and yet so gently or perfectly handled that I feel I will be lifelong inspired to work toward...

Sleepy now...I'll finish off this list (which is not necessarily a comprehensive list) of my favorite artists tomorrow...

Martin Puryear
Tony Oursler
Bill Viola
Carrie Mae Weems
Faith Ringgold
David Hammons
Coco Fusco
and more...