Johan Andersson is one of the most influential artists in my life. His brushstrokes inspire me to be a better person and his passion for painting naked women leaves me in awe. Born in Sweden, Andersson moved to England in 1995 to pursue his career in art. Since then, he has presented many exhibitions displaying his astounding collection of art. His work appears to be glossy. Andersson states that he is a devout catholic and this his religious practices inspire his work. He comments “My faith as a Christian is key to my practice and drives me to travel and see different cultures and experience new things, giving me inspiration and growth. There is an intimacy between the portrait and the viewer in my work and I want to challenge what it means to be human, appreciate and be in awe of the subjects which I have chosen.” I can relate to Andersson on many levels after reading this. Although I am not even remotely a devout Christian, I love to travel the world and view all of the different cultures. It is not Andersson himself that inspires me, but we share similar beliefs by means of traveling and connecting myself to different parts of the world. I like color, and every time I travel, I seem to find streets inundated with graffiti and colored infrastructure. Also, after seeing his work, I have drawn much more cartoon-esque portraits.
Frida Kahlo has also kept me interested with all of her self-portraits. From her highly articulated unibrow to the dead bird necklace, Frida never ceases to amaze me. Ever since encountering her work in Buenos Aires, Argentina this past summer, her work has always been on my mind when creating my own pieces. After viewing some more of her photos online, I subsequently decided to involved Frida-like colors and ideas into my “Beauty and the Beast” project. My project involved a girl transforming into a lion. Frida does obsure pieces that could compare to this and I found that over the process of making my piece, it just got weirder and weirder. Although I didn’t paint my recent piece, I used color which corresponds with what she does as an artist. I am attracted to her pieces because she does her self-portraits like she’s ugly. Her artwork is very intriguing and never leaves me unimpressed. I could stare at her pieces for hours on end and I think that her ideas and pieces will inspire my future pieces.
Vito Lorusso, from Italy, has also inspired me. He does underwater photography and inspires me to want to get my scuba diving certification to possibly start a hobby in taking photos under the water. I am not sure where I discovered his work, but once I saw the photos, I couldn’t stop looking at them just like Frida Kahlo’s pieces. It is hard to understand the website because it is all in Italian, but he has many albums available which include many different types of cool fish and undersea marine mammals. My favorite was the coral. Hopefully, when I make it down to the Caribbean for my next visit, I will be able to follow up and finally take the courses because I have been so inspired by Vito Lorusso to expand my art techniques outside of the classroom and under water. I have always been interested in photography and hopefully I will be able to pursue my interests further because of his influence. He has driven me to want to take marine science classes at Tabor and learn more about life under the sea. Although his website is hard to navigate, his photo albums are remarkably exquisite and impossible to stop looking at. Because of all of this, I have been personally influenced to continue my love of the ocean and put it into my art projects in the future.
Seeing all of these different artists inspire me to explore different techniques. I have learned to view and appreciate all different forms of art on all sides of the spectrum. Creativity is clearly essential for an and it has helped me “make art.” Being forced to post mentors on my highly cherished blog has helped me accept many new artists into my life and discover many forms of art that I didn’t think were possible. Creativity reveals a new light into the depths of everyday situations and these blog posts/artists are the source of my newly founded creativity urges and happiness.