Matt Mullican is a America artist whose work incorporates either bright and bold colors or just black and white. Nonetheless, most of his work displays a lot of contrast. What I found the most interesting is that Mullican has been experimenting with hypnosis since the 1970’s. He said he does this “to create art that both examines his subconscious, and functions as a strategy for breaking from the patterns of everyday life.” I personally like the high contrast in his work, as they are simple, yet striking.
Damien Hirst is one of the most commercially successful contemporary artists. He became famous in the 1990s for his series of dead animals which are preserved in formaldehyde and on display. However, what I found to be interesting was his For the Love of God installation. This art piece consists of a18th century human skull covered in £15,000,000 worth of diamonds, while the only surviving human aspect are the original teeth.
Andreas Gursky is a German photography who is famous for this panoramic urban cityscapes. He is one of the most successful postmodernist artist of the 21st century. His most expensive work, Rhein II was taken in 1999, and was sold in 2011 for $4.3 million dollars. Gursky had originally taken the photograph of the Rhine River, and then it was enlarged and then edited to remove all the buildings and people in the background. I like this photo because it shows the true beauty of the Rhine River as it was before mankind built around it. It silently shows how humanity is taking over the simple beauty of nature.
kneecolelynn 