What Artist At This Time In Your Life, Do You See A Likeness To Yourself?

My late uncle...who was a wildlife photographer...has always been my inspiration in my photography.

Diane,
thanks for sharing.
Speaking of family members or friends who influenced your artistic side.... A lifelong pal of mine (Joe Potempa/wood carver) got me interested in the arts (great literature/classical music/great painting/film)....when I was 18...We went to hear "Carmina Burana" by Karl Orff, and see "The Seventh Seal" by Bergman....That was some 50 years ago and I am still listening to Carmina and watching Seventh Seal so profound an influence both works of art had/have on me.

i only inspire myself.


---Mike Savad

Van Gogh. Especially the way he ended up.

Robert,
That's fantastic. It's wonderful how certain things just stick with us through our lives.

My uncle's photography business was just getting to where he could make a living at it when he passed away of cancer....only a month after his diagnosis. It was just as photography was starting to go digital. I think of him every day and how he'd be so excited about all the digital advancements in photography now.

Robert: Are you asking which artist inspirations/influences move us now as compared to during our youth? Or, are you asking which artists I now relate to as artist, person, and example?

My original inspirations/influences have not change and are still paramount for me: Schiele, Kokoschka, Munch, Kirchner, Beckmann. But as the years have rolled on, I have added numerous other artists to my "stable," a logical penomenon realized over years of looking at and reading about art. The original core 5, however, have not wavered.

As far as which artist's "spirit" or life I relate to, I suppose I have no answer. My lifestyle is mine, more of a final product of my surroundings and what I have chosen.

I was inspired by my parents, who were both a little camera obsessed, and I have boxes of little black and white snaps (and movies) from the 1950s, mostly of family. Though we were not well off financially (with 7 children), my father chose to buy a movie camera instead the dishwasher we desperately needed. My mother used a hall closet to develop her own negatives. I remember her exclaiming once, "now that's a good photo!!" At the time I was just 10, and I didn't know photos were either good or bad from an artistic perspective ... they just were. That got me looking at photography differently.

As far as painters go, I am drawn to Bonnard. If I could paint, I would emulate his style! I know nothing about his personal life, so now I'm off to read up on him.

Kenneth,
The artists you mention....Schiele, Kokoschka, Munch, Kirchner, Beckmann....
I have a fondness for them and really enjoy their work.

Michelangelo.
-- mary ellen anderson

Having thought about it - I'm just not inspired.

Dr. Seuss. Okay, maybe I don't draw like him but we think the same way and see the world from a similar point of view.

Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt

Rembrandt and Monet my whole life. And recently Graham Gercken

Christine Kapler is an enormous inspiration to me. She passed away, but I have purchased a few pieces of her artwork that I see every day. I'm very grateful her family has kept her presence with us.

[Sorry, Robert, but her image needed to be displayed.]

I am influenced by many past and present artists. Many others (right or wrong) have often compared my paintings of women to Alex Katz paintings. A comparison that flatters me but would probably cause Katz to burst out laughing.

Its impossible to see anything from Ansel Adams and not be inspired! One more trip to Yosemite is never enough.

Picasso because I like the way he explored different styles thoughout his lifetime. Like Picasso, I started with traditional and realistic art and then went into looser and experimental styles from there. I spent 2013 doing abstract work, something I wasn't really into before. I guess I get bored just sticking to one style really.

--Roz Barron Abellera

John James Audubon, because of his love for nature, especially avian. Except I shoot my birds with a camera before painting them instead of a gun!

I should also mention how James Ensor influenced me in creating a group here on FAA "Colorful Costumes."

James Ensor produced as a painter "humourous masquerades and grotesque persiflages. For Ensor, the mask is an instrument of an expressionistic demasqué: he reveals the true malicious and ridiculous nature of humans. This emancipation from the caricature will be a source of inspiration for the German Expressionists."

Of course, my images of colorful costumes are rather tame compared with Mr. Ensor's, but at least I got the idea from him.

@Jeffrey = Thanks for the Introduction to Christine. Great work!

Robert: Yes, I could add Ensor to my list, too. But, for me, his influence was more one dimensional and not as long lasting as the core-5 I cited earlier: Munch, Schiele, Beckmann, Kirchner, and Kokoschka. In fact, as I also stressed, the collection of influences has naturally "overflowed" as the years roll by, and I could add numerous others. As for Ensor, his Entry of Christ into Brussels still is important for m e, a long-lasting influence since my student years. In particular, the social commentary and the knife-applied paint played a major role in my own method of painting. The use of thick paint applied with knife was my original tradmark.

I am influenced by the Bauhaus artists from the 30thies. Klee, Kandinsky, Feininger... And the German expressionists I think... I still like them - google them!

Ahh, and Rembrandt of course...

Did someone say Rembrandt?

Ahh, a selfie...

I am inspired by nature, and the world around me. I am always seeing the same place but in a different way!! I really love it!!

I've been very lucky to know many talented artists and photographers. My dad, for example, and many of my friends. Of course the down side is that I am constantly comparing myself to them and coming up short. Sometimes I'm able to channel that into "work harder" but sometimes I can't get past "you're not good enough".

I like to think that I have a way of looking at the world that's unique to me, and that others can recognize it even if I can't. That may be complete delusion but I'm sticking with it!

When I graduated from high school (my parents did not) my parents told me to go be a janitor somewhere (true story). What's so funny is they were trying to be helpful! sigh...
But I had an artistic temperament (slightly mentally ill if that counts). Lucky for me, a good pal of mine back then (and still) was an artist and he introduced me to the liberal arts. By the way, this pal of mine did not go to high school. What a crazy world I grew up in.

I had a second pal who got kicked out of high school in the first month. He (as god is my witness) now owns 3 very successful art galleries in Nevada.

I was first influenced not so much by painters but by writers such as F. Dostoevsky, Henry Miller, Isaac Singer, and many many more.

I became a photographer by pure chance. In short, I was handed a camera by my then boss who informed me, "you are now the company photographer." the company employed some 2,000 people. Lucky for me I was a quick learner (the art genes).

Many photographers influenced me such as Charles Gatewood, Jan Saudek, Joel-Peter Witkin, Weegee, Diane Arbus, and oldies like Jacob Riis, Atget, Bellocq, etc....All rather eccentric in subject matter. Mr. Witkin became famous for photographing dead bodies. I once presented my collection of dead animals here on FAA and was told to get them off. lol....

I think it's good to study other artists and to be influenced by them one way or the other.

I really enjoy Isabelle Zacher-Finet and Bob Burridge. They inspire me to just be me, have my free style. August Macke and my grandmother inspired me to try my hand at paint as well. This is a great thread, and for those of you who are inspired, it's fun to check out your galleries.

The artist who will always be the guiding light in my artistic life would be Jan Vermeer and to a great extent, Dali! I am in awe of the spectacular realism as well as color schemes of these two great artists. Lately I have also developed a great liking to Abstract art and Mark Rothko is my inspiration!