First off, let me introduce you to something I want to implement in this blog.
When you take a look of my posting history, you can see it is very sporadic. If we take the year 2011 for example, we could even say "non existent". This is something that I need to remedy, so I started wondering why posts didn't happen more often.
The reason I came through was that although I am quite passionate about the content that comes into this blog, I simply have to broad a range of interests to cater exclusively to this niche of which my blog is part. Thus, when you see months that are busier than others, it's simply that in these periods, instead of sharpening my woefully poor animation skills, or perhaps painting a few canvases, I crafted something nifty that I wanted to share with you, and thus dove right back into this creepy crafting niche.
Thus, I believe if I want to make my posting more regular, I should broaden a bit the range of topics I discuss over here, and perhaps talk about other things I'm passionate about. One such interests is art history, and visual arts in general.
In this mindset, I thought about featuring now and then artists whose works I enjoy, and which would fit in the general thematic of my blog (i.e.: no kittens and cute little cherubs!). Sometimes, it'll be artists with an historical importance, artists whom everyone and their mothers know about, but whose work I believe should continue being celebrated. Other times, it shall be more underground artists, folks who don't know much fame, but have the talent and creativity to catch my attention. This, I hope, will garnish the pages of my blog, and will be of interest to you guys.
In any case, the first artist I want to present to you is Robert Steven Connett.
HADES, R.S. Connett, ACRYLIC on Canvas - 16" x 16"
Here's a short bio taken from his website:
"Born in 1951 in San Francisco, California, I began drawing and painting at the age of 27. I continued to create artwork as a hobby for 20 years during which time I owned and operated an insurance brokerage firm in San Francisco. I sold the firm in 1998 at age 47 after my home and art collection was destroyed by a fire. I then moved to Los Angeles in 2003 where I began my full time art career at the age of 52"
Mr Connett is an artist which I first discovered while thumbing through an issue of Safarir, a local humour magazine, while I was still quite young and malleable... I think i was about 10 years old at that time. There was no info about him, only a link to his website in a bank of links the staff at the magazine found interesting. I typed in that link, vomitus.com (it now redirects to Grotesque.com, Connett's new website), arrived HERE (partly NSFW) and fell on my ass. But I digress.
R.S. Connett is a surreal artist, presently working in acrylics (but with an history of working with ink, gouache and watercolors) with a very distinctive style, which evolved over the years as the man matured and tamed his demons over time.
In his earlier days, marked by an unfulfilling job, drug addiction, and, ultimately, the destruction of his house and all belongings by a fire in 1995, following which he spent years away from the easel, the influence of a destructive behavior is clearly visible in his paintings, which tend to be quite violent and sexual in nature, and representing elements of hard drug abuse in symbolic or pictural ways. These are the paintings my 10 year old self saw for the first time, and what struck me most was the contrast between the very harsh, obscene at times, subject matter, and the cheery, almost comical aspect of the paintings themselves, where twisted grins are intertwined with bright, contrasting colors.
Resurrection Erection, acrylic on canvas, 36''x48'' 1992-94
Worm Lover, Watercolor and Gouache on paper, 22'' x 30'', 1989
Around the same period, he also created a few black and white pieces, some of them with biomechanical aspects, reminiscent of the works of H.R. Giger, and giving a much bleaker aspect to his work.
Corpse Lovers, Watercolor and Gouache on paper, 20'' x 28'', 1981
Self Portrait #1, Watercolor and Ink on paper, 22'' x 30'', 1978
Around the end of the 80's and the early 90's, he also experimented in a much flatter style, giving a more abstract, cubist-inspired aspect to his creations.
Portrait of Mondo #2, Watercolor and Gouache on paper, 22'' x 30'', 1989
Not only a great artist but also a great thinker, a lot of his work is accompanied by his observations and inspiration, and sometimes a scathing critique of society.
Nowadays, he works mostly in acrylics, with which he creates intricate worlds of astounding detail, color and creativity, paintings which serve to illustrate his musings, thoughts and interests.
Quote from an interview with Eclectix Online Magazine (june 2010):
"My most recent paintings express my interest in what I call the "UNDERWORLD". I'm fascinated by the worlds that exist beyond our immediate vision. The tiny worlds that thrive all around us, and even upon and within us."
Feast of the Havenots, 20'' x 24'', Acrylic on Canvas, 2012
Crustaceopods, 24'' x 24'', Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
Night of the Drowning Clowns, Acrylic on Canvas, 12'' x 12'', 2008
I hope you enjoyed learning about this amazing artist, and soon enough I'll post another feature like this one, I don't know yet about whom, though. Comments and suggestions are welcomed, as always!
I leave you with these links:
I love seeing what other creative types like looking at. I really like R.S. Connett's use of colour. "Crustaceopods" is all sorts of gorgeous. You're lucky you were a kid when the internet was around. I had to snoop though the library art books when I was a youngin'.
ReplyDeleteThe internet definitely broadened my horizons! That being said, for some more arcane knowledge, nothing beats the library. There's a lot more info on sideshows and taxidermy, for example, in books on amazon, than there are in circulation on the net!
ReplyDeleteI'd myself be curious to see what kind of artists you find influencing, if you care to drop a few names!
I used to go to muesems A LOT with my dad and my mum used to wake me up to watch late night old time horror films. I was reading a great deal of horror from a really young age. I got lucky and my parents didn't filter very much.
ReplyDeleteFilm was really interesting to me. Lynch, Jeunet, Fellini... LOVED The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. Art wise? Giger, Mapplethorpe, Annie Sprinkle, Cindy Sherman, the whole dada movement... really anything with naked people or some sort of twisted element was fascinating to my young mind. lol I remember going to an exhibit in which the artist had made a deli counter of human body parts and visiting over and over again.
But my biggest influence is Keith Haring, which may not seem like the proper sort of fit but his sense of space and design, the whimsy of his work, and just how prolific he was, well, he's always stuck with me.
And that big long blabfest is a perfect example of how (and maybe why) I am a complete scatterbrain! Actually, thinking about it, I was very fortunate to have a few kooksy adults who exposed me lots of things they probably should not have :)
Ooooh, lucky you! The creepier movies I saw when I was a wee one were the like of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Ernest Scared Stupid... pretty far from Hammer Films and others of the same kind!
ReplyDeleteIt's very nice to see there are parents who aren't afraid of letting their kids discover things that aren't quite in the beaten path.
That being said, I'm quite surprised to learn Haring has had such an influence on you, but explained the way you did, it makes perfect sense!
Also, to be honest, I had to google Annie Sprinkle, and I'm glad I did. She seems like such an interesting and inspiring woman!