From Durer to Dali, Famous Artists Paint Their Mothers Part Two of Two.

For Mother's Day weekend, I'm sharing portraits of "mothers" by various painters ranging from the 15th century to the present. Yesterday was Part One, a look at portraits of world-renowned artists' mothers prior to the 2oth century and today is Part Two, featuring more contemporary portraits from the 20th and 21st centuries. For more information and caveats, see yesterday's post here.

Franz Marc, portrait of his mother, 1902:

Georgio di Chirico, portrait of the artist's mother, 1911:

Egon Shiele, Mother Sleeping, 1911:

Juan Gris, portrait of the artist's mother, 1912:

Edward Hopper, Elizabeth Griffiths Smith Hopper, the artist's mother, 1916:

Salvador Dali, portrait of the artist's mother, 1920:

Norman Rockwell's Mother Tucking Children Into Bed (for which his mother Irene was the model), 1921:

Grant Wood, Woman With Plants (his mother), 1929:

Arshile Gorky, portrait of the artist's mother, 1936:

William H. Johnson, Mom Alice, 1944:

Alice Neel, My Mother, 1952:

Lucian Freud, The Painter's Mother, 1973:

Andy Warhol, silkscreen of his mother, Julia Warhola, 1974 :

David Hockney, Mum, 1985:

Daphne Todd, Last Portrait Of Mother, 2009:

David Kassan, portrait of the artist's mother, 2010:


See Part One here.


Oh, and Happy Mother's Day!

A Solo Exhibit of Robert Greene's Latest Works Opens at the Robert Miller Gallery.

Since I began this blog in 2007, one of the continually most popular posts has been that of a beautiful photography book featuring the sex appeal of hirsute males; Hairy, by Robert Greene.



What may surprise some of you is that photography is merely a one of the talents of artist Robert Greene whose painted works are critically acclaimed by the art world and whose pieces are featured in the newest Chanel boutiques in Los Angeles and Soho.




above: Robert Greene's black and white abstract works are the perfect compliment to architect Peter Marino's Chanel Soho and Los Angeles boutiques

For the past two years, Robert has been preparing for a solo exhibit of his abstract pieces at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York, which will open tomorrow, May 5th, and run through June 18th.



Showing you these extraordinary paintings on a blog simply does not do them justice. Greene is known for his oil paintings celebrating color and texture created through a methodical and intuitive process of painterly construction, meticulous deconstruction and repositioning of oil-on-vellum strips.




The paintings are mounted on quarter-inch-thick aluminum panels and hang virtually flush with the wall, creating a sleek, distinctive, object-oriented style. The work conveys a modern, refined elegance through a unique surface balancing individual mark-making with systematic precision. Throughout the exhibit Greene refers to modernist painting traditions such as the stripe, the grid, the monochrome, all over composition, cut-ups and gesturalism.

Brian:

Brian in situ:


Each of the gallery's five rooms will contain multiple works allowing Greene to explore dynamic color relationships between the paintings. Each abstraction is titled after a person or reminiscence, alluding to portraiture and intimacy through formal means. James, a work consisting of three seven foot wide panels of white, textured, finely cut and reassembled strips of paint, is titled after the artist's brother. Bobby, the artist's childhood nickname, is a bright, warm, gold and white painting of thinly cut horizontal strips inspired by Greene's memory of his grandfather and father's jewelry business.



Other works in the show explode with color, vibrancy and have sensuous, tactile surfaces. In one of these, Giancarlo, Greene pays homage to the spirit of 1960s Italy with broad colorful stripes under thick strokes of white.

Maurice, 2010:

Luc + Martin, 2010:

Eli, 2010:

Marie, 2010:

detail:

Evie, 2010:

Red, 2010:

Jean-Claude, 2006:

detail:

Cesar, 2010:


Here's a 2009 interview with Robert about his latest works from BOMB Magazine:


Greene’s paintings have been included in the Whitney Biennial and are included in numerous public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was the subject of a retrospective at the Stedelijk Bureau Museum in Amsterdam. His work is included in numerous private collections in the United States and Europe. Recently Greene has created works commissioned for Chanel boutiques worldwide.

Robert's abstract works are featured in the Chanel Boutiques in Soho and on Robertson Avenue in Los Angeles as shown below:

images courtesy of the artist and the Robert Miller Gallery

Robert Greene At The Robert Miller Gallery
May 5, 2011 - June 18th, 2011
Opening: Thursday, May 5 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: Robert Miller Gallery
524 West 26th Street
New York, NY

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. For further information, please contact the gallery at 212.366.4774 or via email: rmg@robertmillergallery.com

BUST-ED. Karin Jurick Completes Her 100 Faces, Paintings Of Actual Mugshots.

Today, one of my favorite contemporary painters, Karin Jurick, has reached a milestone. The incredibly talented artist completed her amazing series of 100 faces.

Titled BUST-ED, the project features individual loose studies of the human head, each painted from actual mugshots [with names concealed for obvious reasons]. For the past 100 days, she has painted the 4" x 4" portraits on masonite, one each day. They include men and women of all ages and races. Some are frontal, others are profiles - all are fabulous.

The very first painting in the series:

The 100th painting in the series:


All 100 paintings:






What began as a 'painting a day', that were going to be available for auction individually, was quickly pre-sold to one individual patron - much to my dismay.

Nevertheless, you can view each individual portrait on her BUST-ED blog or better yet, order the book she has created of them on Blurb. Available in hardcover or softcover, each has a page dedicated to the individual portraits.


The book features one portrait per page. here are some sample spreads:






Buy the book here.

Karin is truly one of the most skilled artists around and her works are quickly sold. Be sure to see her website and the galleries that represent her.
Karin Jurick