Artsz.org

Henry David Thoreau once said,

¨If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.¨

An artist that has truly taken this saying to heart is Peter Eugene Ball. Throughout history artists have been influenced by religion and this is still true today. Let’s take the post modern sculptor Peter Eugene Ball. This artist is inspired by other past religious artists, but he brings modern simplicity to this influence.

Those who see his work notice the timeless quality he gives each of his pieces. He seems to be fascinated by the mysteries of life, and yet easily portrays the human simplicity.

The unique way Ball can express the inspiration he gets from religion, life, and spirituality is portrayed with such simplicity. Often it is nothing but a piece of driftwood that he uses and transforms into a human gesture or face. He is influenced by iconic art, religious art and artists from the medieval times. Ball has done work for many churches within England and you can find works in Westminster, Birmingham and Winchester.

Photo Courtesy of: Zoreil

When thinking about where artists get their inspiration I came across a well known Japanese painter of today Yasumasa Morimura. This artist, who was born in 1955, believes that art is just another form of entertainment. He is inspired by entertainment.

To quote him ¨Art is basically entertainment, even Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci knew this.¨ Up until ten years ago Yasumasa Morimura was relatively unknown and then he came up with a series called self portrait as art history, and in the series he basis himself on self portraits using works of some of the most important masters of all art history.

After this series he continued with another based on Hollywood women and then another based on iconic male figures throughout history. In truth his work really does support his belief and his inspiration from entertainment.

Contemporary artist seem to be inspired and fascinated by topics and themes that represent the metaphysical.  Ellen Lanyon is one of these artists. Her work fascinates me because she uses so many fantastical images mixed in with realistic ones.  She makes one wonder at the mystery of nature and how we as humans affect our habitat

Lanyon tries to show that all living things are linked together through her work. She advocates the ecological balance of life and expresses it through her painting.  She combines normal things found in nature or in everyday life and combines them with items from junk shops, or taxidermy specimens and combines them all into a fantastic combination, expressing the relationship between man made objects and those objects found in nature. She wants people to understand the magical process that happens once life begins.

Even the titles of her paintings gives you a hint of what she is trying to communicate through her painting. Take the painting ¨Endangered,¨ in it she tries to explain how we shouldn’t allow things that are important to fade in our memory.

Keith Harring was a contemporary painter born in 1958, in Pennsylvania. At an early age he was found drawing and developed the skills from his father. He started with simple cartoons drawn from Disney characters and popular books he loved. As his talent developed he found himself being drawn and inspired by public places. He lived in NewYork and became fascinated with downtown streets, subways, clubs, dance halls. His friends were graffiti artists, writers, musicians, and performers. The energy of such a life is what inspires his current work. He took social issues to heart and it is seen throughout his work. He was also inspired by the works of other artists like Pierre Alechinsky, Jean Dubuffet, Brion Gysin and Robert Henri. With all of these influencing factors Harring became determined to make his work public. In the 80’s he was inspired to draw on large advertising panels in the subway.  Because there was such a public audience here he began to draw several white chalk drawings on black matte paper and ended up doing hundreds of these drawings in the subway system. During this time he achieved international recognition. He has done several public paintings regarding social issues, including a billboard in Times Square.

This artist found his inspiration in living and in all thing that surround his New York life and his work reflects this and he was very apt at expressing his feelings in this regard. Keith Harring acomplished much in his short life. He died from AIDS at the age of 32.