A Zen-Like Experience

 

Here is an artist I discovered while strolling the gallery streets in Laguna Beach California.  His work spoke to me immediately,  Each painting exuded an air of mystery and quiet peacefulness.  The quote from his website below, says it best.

"Martin BeauPre was born in Quebec Canada in 1961.  Over the years Martin has found his point of balance by associating art with energy. As a full-time painter Martin's paintings are a reflection of his inner world.  Martin takes us on a zen journey which reveals a search for beauty and harmony in muffled tones, with serene, uncluttered compositions inspired by Asian art."

82 Portraits & 1 Still Life

 

In 2018, there was an exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) of works by well known artist David Hockney.  It was a group of portraits that he painted of people who fill his life in Los Angeles.

His subjects are from all walks of life.  He invited family members, fellow artists, art dealers, curators, employees, and close friends to sit for him.  He painted one portrait of each and the one still life painting was because of a last minute cancellation.

The painting to the left is of Barry Humphries, a comedian and actor.

I'm posting more than one photo today to give you an idea of how this exhibit was presented.  The paintings were created between 2013 and 2016 in the artist's Hollywood Hills studio.  Each painting was completed in three days.  

David Hockney is a prolific artist and a key figure in the pop art movement.  One of his paintings sold for 90 million dollars in 2018.  It was an exhibit well worth seeing.  

Swirls of Paint

 

I'm featuring an artwork today that seemed to grab me and sweep me into its torrent of paint.  This is a recent purchase by the Phoenix Art Museum. It's by the artist Marina Perez Simao.  I don't know much about Ms. Simao except that she is Brazilian and was born in 1980.  A search of her name found many links to galleries who have represented her or featured a show of her paintings but I could find very little about her life or education.  All I know is that the brilliant swirls of paint in her paintings create dreamscapes that one can float right into.  Here is a link to an ArtNet article about her work.

Ophelia!

 

Ophelia is a painting by John Everett Millais (1829-1896).  It is meant to be Ophelia from Shakespeare's play "Hamlet".  Millais was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  He went to great lengths to get every detail right in all of his paintings.  For this painting he spent days painting by the side of a stream to capture every detail of the growth around the water.  Then he spent hours painting his model who was submerged in the tub of water in order for him to get every detail of her floating image.  She was in the cold water so long that she became very ill from the cold.  Her story is just as interesting as the painter himself.  She was an artist in her own right but because of era, never received the recognition due to her.  There is a wonderful video, 6-minute video produced by the Tate Britain that tells the story of this painting and gives honor to his model Elizabeth Sidel.  It is a fascinating story. You can see it here.