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Haley Smith

Mrs. Futo

Art 1020

12 September 2018

Art research Essay

Artists have many ways of expressing themselves through their artwork. They are

all unique in their own way, which makes it very interesting to learn about their lives and how

they figured out what their artwork would be focused on. There are many different ways to make

artwork their own such as the techniques being used, the feeling the piece should reflect onto the

audience, and most importantly what the artwork is going to look like (simple or complex).

Alex Katz was born on July twenty fourth during the year

of 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. He is known mostly for

his paintings, prints, and sculptures. For a span of four

years Katz studied at the Cooper Union from the years of

1946 to 1949. Right after his study at Cooper Union, he

studied at a different institute named Skowhegan School

of Painting and Sculpture for one year from 1949 to 1950. Skowhegan introduced him to

painting which led him to devote his life to painting. During the first 10 years of his painting

career, he could not seem to find his style, so he ended up destroying close to one thousand

paintings. During the 1950’s his thought process was to paint faster than he could think. His

paintings were very simple but that was very fitting to his personality, he never wanted to do

something that was already done by another person. According to Wikipedia, “Katz achieved
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great prominence in the 1980’s. He is well known for his large paintings, whose bold simplicity

and heightened colours are now seen as precursors to pop art” (1), pop art is simply an art

movement that began in Britain as well as the United States during the 1950’s. His paintings

were characterized by their lack of color and the disengagement of emotion. During the 1960’s

Katz was painting larger paintings than before, because they were bigger he decided to make the

heads very cropped. He got married to Ada Katz and she was put into many paintings during his

career, more specifically she was put into two hundred and fifty of his paintings, however the

first painting she was the model for was in the year of 1958. The most recent piece of work

(named An American Way Of Seeing) of Katz was in 2010 at Sara Hilden Art museum. If I were

to start painting, what should I paint? You should paint something/ someone you love. What type

of feelings are expressed when you paint? I let the people that observe my paintings decide for

me what feeling is expressed.

Mark Tansey was born in the year of 1949 in California. Tansey

was introduced to art very early in his life and grew up with a love for

art just like his family, so that had a tremendously large effect on his

style of painting. Tansey went to saturday art classes to get more

practice on his artwork because Tansey wanted to get further in his

career, stated in the Wikipedia page about Mark Tansey, “​Beginning in

1969, Tansey spent three years studying at the Art Center College of

Design in Los Angeles. While attending the Art Center College, his work portrayed a deep

interest in the appropriation and simulation of media which was a style that did not become

popular until the 1980s” (1). As soon as Tansey graduated from the Art Center College, he was
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an assistant for the gallery of the San Jose State University. His later work was influenced by

observing the art at the University gallery. In the year of 1974, Tansey attended Hunter College

in the graduate program in New York City ​for four years, which became one of the best art

programs of the time. ​Tansey’s paintings are more old fashioned because of his creation

method. “His method involves laying down a layer of monochrome pigment on canvas that can

be altered easily only before it dries”(Wikipedia. 1). His creation method is so complex that it

only leaves him a time limit of six hours to make any changes to the artwork. Tansey wanted to

express a certain feeling for each painting so that every painting would be unique. Tansey gets

his inspiration from printed paper (such as magazines, newspapers, photos, etc), and then creates

small sketches and drawings until he has a good enough idea to start painting. What were most of

your paintings like? Normally my paintings are based on everyday events or historical events.

What is the most recent year when your work got into a gallery? My latest work got put into a

street gallery in new york in the year of 2004.

Elizabeth Peyton was born in Danbury Connecticut, in the year 1965. At a very young

age Peyton started to draw people. At the age of nineteen,

Peyton enrolled at the school of Visual Arts to study fine arts.

After Peyton graduated from the school of Visual Arts, she had

several jobs and still managed to save time to work on her art.

According to the article about Elizabeth Peyton, “In 1993, her

second solo exhibition, which featured images of famous historical and literary figures, opened

to great critical acclaim. Her later portraits of rock stars and celebrities have been hailed for their

expert use of color and design, and for their evocative, descriptive qualities”. Peyton was able to
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find her inspiration by using photographs of celebrities, musicians, and her friends to recreate

them by using either paint or pencils. According to the Wikipedia page of Elizabeth Peyton,

“Her paintings are characterized by elongated, slender figures with androgynous features.

Sexually ambiguous, feminine qualities are regularly emphasised. Her work at times resembles

fashion illustration” (1). Some of the celebrities in Peyton’s artwork are Nicole Kidman, Graham

Coxon, david Bowie, and many more. Have you ever worked on a piece of artwork with

someone else? Yes, I collaborated with Matthew Barney in the year of 2009, and a little bit after

that I was able to work with other people. What is one of your biggest inspirations? One of my

inspirations would be the portrait of Nadar, Alfred Stieglitz, and Robert mapplethorpe. Elizabeth

Peyton has grown through her art career, she has been able to have her artwork art the Museum

of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Last heard of, Peyton lives and

continues her art career in Long Island, New York.

Cindy Sherman was born on January nineteenth, 1954 in Glen

Ridge, New Jersey. She has four siblings and she is the youngest one.

Shortly after she was born, her family wanted to move to Long Island.

In the year of 1972, Sherman enrolled to the University of Buffalo

State and got into their visual arts program. She began to paint while

being at Buffalo State and she explored many ideas for her work.

Stated in the Wikipedia page of Cindy Sherman, “Frustrated with what

she saw as the limitations of painting as a medium of art, she abandoned it and took up

photography. "There was nothing more to say [through painting]", she recalled. "I was

meticulously copying other art, and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into
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an idea instead.” Sherman has said about this time: "One of the reasons I started photographing

myself was that supposedly in the spring one of my teachers would take the class out to a place

near Buffalo where there were waterfalls and everybody takes pictures of each other” (1). She

decided to spend the rest of her educational years to focus on her photography. While studying

photography, Sherman met Robert Longo and he gave her inspiration to record her process for

parties. After meeting Robert Longo, Sherman had enough inspiration to start her untitled film

series. In 1974, Sherman, Longo, and a couple other people created an art center for artists with

diverse backgrounds named Hallwalls. Most of her photographs that are taken are of herself

dressed in many different costumes becoming different roles, she typically is alone in her studio

so she has all the responsibilities like being the makeup artist, hairstylist, and most importantly

the model. Early on in the 1990’s, a couple of Sherman’s photographs made it on covers for

albums as well as sometimes getting the opportunity to work as a film director. Have you ever

had your artwork put into a magazine? Yes, in fact I was able to collaborate with W magazine on

a “selfie” project. Is photography the only thing you have been focusing on in your career? No,

throughout my career I have been able to include several fashion pieces like making designs for

Prada, and Marc Jacobs.

Kara Walker was born on November twenty sixth, of the year 1969 in

Stockton, California. Her father's name was Larry Walker and her mom’s name

was Gwendolyn Walker. In 1991, Walker received her BFA (Bachelor degree

of Fine Arts), and later on in 1994 she got her MFA (Master degree of Fine

Arts). Stated in Wikipedia, “ Walker found herself uncomfortable and afraid to

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address race within her art during her early college years. However, she found her

voice on this topic while attending Rhode Island School of Design for her Master's, where she

began introducing race into her art. She had a distinct worry that having race as the nucleus of

her content would be received as typical or obvious.” (1). Walker is best known for her images

of black figures against a white wall to represent racism. What was your earliest memory you

can remember? Actually I can remember sitting on my father’s lap in our home studio (our

garage) and I was watching him draw. I remembered I really wanted to do that one day, and

pretty much at that exact moment I decided I wanted to become exactly like my father. What did

you become known for going through your career? I became known for my paintings,

printmaking, filmmaking, and my sculptures. Walker has taught many classes at the University

of Columbia, she also is serving as Tepper Chair in

Visual Arts at the Rutgers University for five years.

This year (2018), Walker was elected to the American

Philosophical Society. Most recent information on

Walker is that she lives and continues her career in

New York.

Matthew Ritchie was born in London in the year 1964. Ritchies art is best known for

personal myths. Ritchie received his Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts at the University of

Camberwell, School of Art. Ritchie was enrolled into Boston University and spent a year there in

the year 1982. In the year of 1995, during the months February till March, Ritchie was able to

get his first ever solo show that was called the “Working Model”. His solo show was shown in

Basilico Fine Arts in New York. Ritchie is mostly known for his paintings, however most of his
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artwork are drawings. Ritchies art process can be described as complex, mentioned in the

Wikipedia page for Matthew Ritchie, “​I start with a collection of ideas...and I draw out all these

different motifs, and then I lay them on top of each other. So I have piles of semi-transparent

drawings all layered on top of each other in my studio and they form a kind of tunnel of

information. Out of that, you can pull this form that turns into the sculpture or the painting. It's

literally like pulling the narrative out of overlaying all of the structures. That's how I end up with

this structure. It's derived from a series of drawings that I scan into the computer and refine

through various processes...and send to the sheet-metal shop down the road where it's cut out of

metal and assembled into larger structures which are too big for my studio” (1). In order to create

Ritchies complex artwork he draws meta- narratives that tend to explore religion, philosophy,

and science. Over the years Ritchie has grown to change his work, according to Collection

Online, “In recent work, Ritchie has begun to integrate sculptural elements into his pieces” (1).

Currently Ritchie lives and works in New York City. What did your first solo show teach you?

The many different paintings, drawings, and sculptures I saw introduced me to the thought of a

group of artist who would bring different systems such as history and ideologically together to

show a common thread in their artwork. Did you ever find a spouse or was your work your main

priority? During my career I met my wife Garland Hunter and she is an artist and actress. Has

your wife been in anything? She was able to appear in the movie “The Tao Of Steve” which was

made in the year 2000.

These artists are all very talented, however there are definitely top favorites for me.

Some of my favorite pieces of artwork are from Mark Tansey, Kara Walker, and Matthew

Ritchie.
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To start off, let’s discuss my favorite

piece of art from Mark Tansey. The painting is an oil

painting and is called the Action Painting 2. This

painting was made in 1984. What is it to me? To me

it can be many different things. My reaction to his

painting was very calming and joyful. I got the

feeling of joy because I was extremely happy to

think back in history to the time we were able to test

new technology. The representation consisted of many things and was very important in order to

get a certain reaction towards the painting. One very important technique that was used was

using subtraction in order to make a contrast in the paintings tones. This painting has a close

connection with another painting by Tansey named “American Action”, these two paintings have

a similar relation due to their narrative pressure. What does it mean to me? I think this piece of

art has a meaning that goes far beyond just being a painting but more that history was being

made. It was very important that people would paint and draw what happened in history because

if they did not then we would not have records of anything from the past. Having this

documented information has let us see how much we have advanced and evolved with

technology throughout the years. This painting was shifting between different time periods, the

shuttle was from the 1980’s and the outfits on the men were from 1950’s and 60’s. The purpose

of this painting was to show realism in America. What is the significance? The painting was to

show how we have changed and grown over the years with technology, trust, freedom, etc. Was
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the piece of art successful? Yes, the painting got put in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in the

international art section. How has the perception of and/or preference for the work changed for

me? Learning more about the piece has given me the opportunity to look at it from the artists

point of view.

The second artist is Kara Walker. My favorite piece of hers is named Gone. This

piece’s description is “A historical romance of a civil war as it occured between the dusky thighs

of one young negress and her heart”. M​ade in the year 1994 and was first shown in her New

York debut. This painting was in reference to the book “Gone with the wind” by Margaret

Mitchell. What is it? From my first look of this painting I thought it was very complex, just like

the world. What does it mean to me? When I saw this painting my first thought was that there

was a big story to it, however then I started thinking it could have been a variety of different

stories all connected to the others. This relates to the world for me because everybody lives their

own life but people develop connections with others which makes them apart of their lives.

According to Kara Walker’s page on the Museum of Modern Art website, the artwork was a

“black cut-out silhouettes of caricatures of antebellum figures arranged on a white wall in

uncanny, sexual, and violent scenarios. In reviving the eighteenth-century cut-paper silhouette to

critique historical narratives of slavery and the ongoing perpetuation of ethnic stereotypes,

Walker has transformed the craft into a new type of epic history painting” (1). The purpose of

this piece of art (just like most of her other work) is to show equality, which makes it very

significant to this day. Was it successful? Yes, her piece has been very memorable and was able

to be put in the Tang Museum in New York, 2003. How has the perception of and/or preference
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for the work changed for me? This piece of art inspires me because of her dedication and respect

for art.

The last piece of art is by Matthew

Ritchie. This piece is named “Garden at this

hour” and was made in 2013.​ This piece is

located in White Oak, Maryland on the FDA

Campus. What is it? What peaked my interest

in this piece of art, was wondering what it was

made of, what caused Ritchie to make this, and

if he wanted it to look super specific or if he was inspired to do this piece randomly in the

moment. This piece is made out of aluminum, steel, polyester, plants, and stone. What does it

mean to me? To me, this piece of art is showing that you can be creative in many ways and be

able to make art even if it is not on paper. Ritchie was very specific and carefully picked out the

plants and stones for their visual qualities, as well as their symbolic meanings to represent a

timeline within the sculpture itself. Ritchies work is very different from paintings and drawings

to sculptures and videos but they all have a connection because he will focus on​ ​history, religion,

and science. According to GSA, “ This Garden at This Hour, Ritchie traces the parallels between

archetypal creation stories and the vital work of the FDA, balancing nature and culture. The

artwork’s title is an allusion to John Milton’s 17th-century epic poem Paradise Lost” (1).

All these artists are very inspiring and have changed many people's lives through their

artwork. I am very delighted and honored to write this essay and learn more about these artists

and how they grew stronger and better throughout their lives. Acquiring more knowledge about
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these people has changed my approach towards their work. Being able to see what gave them the

courage and dedication to make their work gave me more of an understanding from their

viewpoint.

Work Cited

Alex Katz: ​“Alex Katz.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Sept. 2018, 

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Katz  

Mark Tansey: ​“Mark Tansey.” W

​ ikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 May 2018, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Tansey

Mark Tansey’s Artwork: ​“Action Painting II.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 May 2018, 

ps://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Painting_II

Elizabeth Peyton: ​“Elizabeth Peyton.” W

​ ikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Sept. 2018, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Peyton

​“Elizabeth Peyton.” C
​ laudio Bravo Biography – Claudio Bravo on Artnet​, Pace 

Gallery, ​ ​http://www.artnet.com/artists/elizabeth-peyton/biography

Cindy Sherman: “C​indy Sherman.” W

​ ikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Aug. 2018, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman

Kara Walker: ​“Kara Walker.” W

​ ikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Aug. 2018, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Walker
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Kara Walker’s Artwork: ​Walker, Kara. “Kara Walker Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War 

as It Occurred B'tween the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart 1994.” L
​ ee Bontecou. 

Untitled. 1959 | MoMA​, ​https://www.moma.org/collection/works/110565

Matthew Ritchie: ​“Matthew Ritchie.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Feb. 2018, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Ritchie

​Guggenheim​, ​https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/matthew-ritchie

Matthew Ritchie’s Artwork: ​“Matthew Ritchie.” H

​ ome​, 13 Aug. 2017, 

https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/regions/welcome-to-the-national-capital-region-11/buildings-and-f

acilities/maryland/fda-white-oak-campus/matthew-ritchie