Artists for inspiration
I am always on the lookout for inspiration. I have added this section to introduce you to artists that work with different materials or uncommon materials in order to spark your inner artist. This is not an extensive list but I wanted to start with works that seemed attainable, inspirational, and motivational.
“Everything that I needed was around me if I looked carefully. I never plan my work in advance. When I drink coffee, I reflect on the nuances that I could create if I turned it over on the table.”
“I spilled some on a piece of paper the other day in cold winter 2011 and found something special. It was so special, I have to make an artificial pause to create some tension. Since then I do it day by day, or at least I try. I create sweet, lovely and sometimes just evil coffeemonsters by dripping some coffee on paper, let it dry and try to see something in it.”
“Firstly made by accident, coffee painting has really grow on me,” she says. “Painting like I would with watercolors, I use many different blends and brands in order to get the right shade, depending on the design.”
“Inspiration comes from nature, from inanimate objects and from traditional graphic and geometric designs.”
“I've been creating cut pieces that combine a wide variety of singularly toned objects over a geometric, cut-paper background, such as the wide variety of red-toned fruit and vegetables in ‘SquaRED.’ ”
“I like the idea of not being able to see everything. Having multiple layers partially conceals but the patterns of foliage, (which) also act like a kind of shelter.”
“My artwork aims to create modern narratives for found photos – connecting the people of the past with those of the present.”
Yulia Brodskaya
“Paper always held a special fascination for me. I've tried many deferent methods and techniques of working with it, until I found the way that has turned out to be 'the one' for me: now I draw with paper instead of on it".
“I firmly believe in the power of the visual, and my work is my voice: a social critique and a visual challenge to all the cultural detritus we are force-fed every day. My art is about looking at things in a slightly different way, and is intended to undermine the status quo with wit and humor.”
“Self is a self-portrait of the artist, but one that literally uses his body as material since the cast of Quinn's head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance. A further iteration made every five years, this series of sculptures presents a cumulative index of passing time and an ongoing self-portrait of the artist's ageing and changing self.”
“Though I have no formal art training, I did have an excellent mentor in my grandmother, Anita Tollefson. When I was young, I remember being mesmerized by her paintings, weavings, mosaics, sculptures, collages, and stained glass work that filled my grandparents' house and yard.”
“Many of my works look at hard, difficult subjects -- like environmental issues, violence, economic injustice, animal cloning. Using chewing gum is my way of drawing people in.”
“These site-specific Jell-O installations introduce the viewer to a more physical experience involving smell, movement and the desire to taste. Because the sculptures decay over time, the photographs and videos remain as the only record of their existence.”
“These site-specific Jell-O installations introduce the viewer to a more physical experience involving smell, movement, and the desire to taste. Because the sculptures decay over time, the photographs and videos remain as the only record of their existence.”
“Pencils are common objects, here, these anonymous objects become the structure. There is true a fragility to the sometimes brutal aspect of the sculptures, vulnerability that is belied by the fearsome texture.”
“I'm inspired by animals, plants, other art, Ernst Haeckel, Odilon Redon, mythology. In fact, it isn't easy to specify particular sources of inspiration. Sometimes one sculpture will inspire the next, or maybe I'll make a mistake, and that will send me off in a new direction.”