Ask HN: What artists do you like? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What artists do you like?

34 pointsjamesbritt84 comments

I've seen various topics what music people like, but couldn't find anything similar for what artists people enjoy.

I'm a fan of Marcel, Duchamp, John Singer Sargent, Jack Kirby, Patrick McDonnell, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner; the list could get quite lengthy.

As with my preference in music, I feel there are common qualities, but I'm hard pressed to clearly define them.

What artists do you like? Can you explain why? Do have artwork in your home or office?

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I'm especially partial to three bits of classical music.

1. 20th century classical. I really love Shostakovich, Stravinksy, Bartok, and others who blended "classical" elements (18th and 19th centuries) with modern ideas. At its best, their music is as rich and enjoyable as Mozart and Beethoven, but unusual and fresh at the same time.

2. Contemporary minimalism. (Contemporary maybe meaning 1960s and on.) Especially Arvo Part, Gorecki, and John Adams. Beautiful, haunting, original, and accessible. If you're looking for recommendations, try Fratres and Tabula Rasa by Arvo Part, or Symphony #3 by Gorecki. Really unbelievable music.

3. Bach. 300 years old, and better than anything that's come since. He rides the tension between simplicity and complexity, beauty and the sublime. If humans are still around in 20,000 years, when they look back to the 1000's, they'll think of Bach and Shakespeare. Recommendations: cello suites, cantatas, St. Matthew's Passion, and everything else.

(edit) I'm less experienced with visual art, but Kiki Smith definitely deserves a mention. I also enjoy Gerhard Richter, Kandinsky, Chagall, and Klee.

Pandora has expanded its catalog, and I set up a modern minimalist station. I think I started with Nyman, but have been up-voting various pieces by Reich, Glass, Adams, Part. And getting to hear composers I was unaware of.

Great tip! I'll check it out.

2. Add to that Steve Reich and his Music For 18 Musicians.

3. I've never been particularly fond of Bach. His music's technically incredible, but it doesn't grab at me emotionally.

RE Bach: to each their own. I find counterpoint to be really emotionally powerful, and I think that's the root of what grabs me in Bach.

I concur with the sentiments re: Bach. I'm much more of a fan of Mozart, though I cannot articulate why.

Mozart's got a real sense of fun to his pieces. My reaction to him is the opposite of mine to Bach: I've never heard a Mozart piece that didn't sweep me away. His work is so rich and so full.

I just had Chopin recommended to me as far as Romanticism goes. Beethoven's never quite done it for me (he's terrific, but not in the same way that Mozart is IMHO), so I'm hoping Chopin really sparks a love.

I have your tastes + Chopin

And Berlioz

I'm a huge fan of impressionism (Van Gogh, Monet), but that's like saying you like puppies.

A little more off the beaten path is Zdzislaw Beksinski: http://coilhouse.net/2007/12/the-beautiful-nightmares-of-zdz...

His artwork haunts me, even years after being exposed to it. The fact that he uses wood as a canvas makes it all the more fascinating.

This is brilliant. Also, interesting: the Web site said that the father abhorred silence, preferring to listen to classical music. At the bottom, they mentioned that both father and son especially liked The Legendary Pink Dots.

I've included a link to one of their songs; I can just imagine Beksinski painting while listening to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv5khDimvy8

That's incredible. I have a small crush on those pieces. Thanks for sharing!

As soon as I saw "haunts me" I knew what paintings you were talking about.

I love his work and thank you for reuniting me with it.

Yeah, that is good. Zdzislaw Beksinski. thanks for sharing that.

I love the magic that happened when Jackson Pollock combined Hopi Indian sand painting techniques with brush/canvas to harness the power of gravity:

http://www.monroegallery.com/showcase/images/MH_JacksonPollo...

If you ever go to MOMA in NYC, make sure you start on the 6th floor and work your way down...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pollock31.jpg

I also love when the worlds of mathematics and art meet, as in Pollock's fractals:

http://discovermagazine.com/2001/nov/featpollock

or, of course, anything by Escher:

http://www.headwaysoftware.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/chris...

An interesting article on symmetry and fractal design exposed in Pollack's art: http://phys.unsw.edu.au/phys_about/PHYSICS!/FRACTAL_EXPRESSI...

Why do you like Pollock? Serious question.

Frank Lloyd Wright.

He had an unbelievable ability to create building designs that blended perfectly with their surroundings. I've never seen any architect achieve a better harmony between man and nature. Wright's most famous designs are Fallingwater: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum in New York: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_R._Guggenheim_Museum

Many of his design ideas were beyond the technological limitations of the day, but Wright never let that slow him down.

He was unquestionably one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.

If you're a Lego fan: http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=21005

A local museum in Salem had a Joseph Cornell exhibit a few years back.

http://www.pem.org/sites/cornell/

I really liked his work.

My taste in art ranges all over the place. I like a fair amount of modern stuff. I like a fair bit of expressionist and surrealist art, although some of it gets a bit too silly. I also tend to like 17th century Dutch and Flemish art (Reubens, Hals, Rembrant, and of course Vermeer). Which is not to say I can't spend hours staring at impressionist paintings, or medieval art, or Caravaggios, or over-the-top Neoclassical blockbusters from Jacques-Louis David. (From what I can see, the typical David is like a Cecil B. Demille film condensed into one enormous frame.)

My favorite art moment so far was in a specific room in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, where I was able to spend pretty much an entire hour at a time when the museum was really quiet. I would stare at Vermeer's View of Delft until I got tired of it, then turn around to stare at Girl With A Pearl Earring, which despite having been turned into the basis of some kind of slick international blockbuster is still an awesome painting.

View of Delft is an astonishing work. I found it difficult to believe how great it was. You can't really tell from the postcard-sized reproductions. It was on that trip that I began to understand that paint is a very, very special substance in the hands of a master.

I enjoy the Bauhaus school - Wassily Kandinsky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee, etc.

Art has obviously moved on, but their writings and work are still interesting, especially if you're into digital art and design with it's inherent "Modernist" grid. And the formalism appeals to the computer geek in me.

The vast majority of preferred artists mentioned here, are from the early half of the last century. Does this say something about HN'ers understanding and awareness of contemporary art?

It's a curious contrast with how most people reading HN are working at the absolute cutting edge of 21st century technology. Curiously, art has always been driven by advances in modern technology; whether that be in metal casting, developments in pigments and dyes and of course, the invention of the lens.

"Does this say something about HN'ers understanding and awareness of contemporary art?"

I find it hard to keep on top of, and experience, contemporary art. Unlike music, where it's fairly easy to get exposed to something, much contemporary visual art requires a physical presence to appreciate.

I also don't know many good sources to follow contemporary art. There are some printed mags I browse through at B&N or Borders, but that's pretty haphazard. (The art galleries are one of the things I miss most about New York City. There are occasional good showings in the Phoenix area, but hardly on par with places like NYC or L.A.)

Are there good Web sites for keep abreast of contemporary art?

http://www.vvork.com/

I like it because it's contemporary art, but the feed is almost entirely images - so it doesn't weigh too heavy in your feed reader...

I normally like individual paintings rather than artists. I do like Rothko though - so nice and blobby.

For objects though, I especially like Le Corbusier.

I gravitate toward modernism a bit, and I kinda think it was the last interesting art movement that captured the public's imagination. Something about the space age, square things and stuff. Lichtenstein, Mondrian and Pollock are interesting in that respect.

As for music, the list is just absolutely endless. I'd say I like more than 50% of the music that I've heard. Right now I have a funk & soul radio show on, earlier I was listening to old New Order, and before that I had a Lupe Fiasco CD on.

No art in my house or office - but one day there absolutely will be. Probably starting with the furniture.

Sol Lewitt, http://images.google.com/images?q=sol+lewitt for the illogical followed to a logical end

Vittore Carpaccio, http://images.google.com/images?q=painting+vittore+carpaccio... ...

Agnes Martin, http://images.google.com/images?q=agnes+martin for the pursuit of perfection

Emma Kunz, http://images.google.com/images?q=emma+kunz for the combination of abstraction and spirituality

Unica Zürn, http://images.google.com/images?q=unica+zurn for it's pure subjectivity

Stan Vanderbeek, http://images.google.com/images?q=stan+vanderbeek for his films and seeing the artistic potential of the computer

and many others...

My father-in-law does photography of New Orleans, and he's got a gallery on Royal Street, so I surprisingly know a lot about contemporary art, due to the discounts I get in NoLa.

I am a big fan of Ricker, Erte, and Deyber. Most especially Deyber, it's smartass art, see it here: http://martinlawrence.com/deyber.html -- I own Party Animal, it's a giraffe with a lampshade.

I also own a Brennan, they're small paintings, quite simple but devastatingly intricate: http://martinlawrence.com/brennan.html

We've also been collecting rinards: http://www.galleryrinard.com/

I don't own him, but I'm a huge fan of Todd White: artofwhite.com

As a shameless plug for my inlaw's site: http://www.joedunnarts.com and the pw is gr8noart

Oh, and warhol sucks. hard. it's like being a fan of mozart to sound sophisticated.

I'm surprised there hasn't been any software based artists mentioned yet.

How about (I'll add examples of specific work so you won't have to search it out):

Cory Arcangel http://www.beigerecords.com/cory/Things_I_Made/SuperMarioMov...

Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin http://www.earstudio.com/projects/listeningpost.html (see video gallery)

RSG http://r-s-g.org/carnivore/

GRL http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=76

There's many more. If you're interested in this kind of art there are festivals too:

Bay area: http://01sj.org/

Europe : http://www.aec.at/index_en.php

Various location : http://www.isea-web.org/eng/index.html

Damien Hirst and Hugh McLeod (a.k.a. gapingvoid). They both cut through a lot of the bullshit behind the "art world" and, specifically, the business of art.

For most people, art's about looking at some "pretty pictures" but as an entrepreneur I find the business revelations to be as much an appreciation of art as the visual.

Could you elaborate about the 'business revelations'? I'm really intrigued.

I only have a minute but.. in McLeod's case, he took it from being a mere hobby of scribbling on the back of business cards, through to refining the concept of the "social object" and, more recently, the "cube grenade." Going into what this is all about is a bit much here but this might help: http://gapingvoid.com/2007/10/24/more-thoughts-on-social-obj... - Crucially, though, his art is specifically focused on business and is primarily sold within a business context - no galleries, often used for offices, etc.

Hirst.. you could talk about for hours and go round in circles, but if you follow him for a bit you'll see a very savvy business mind at work. Not many artists have a couple hundred million dollars in their bank accounts. It's not a cynical money grab though; he's got some great ideas going on.

Thanks. I also found this whilst hunting around, which I found utterly fascinating: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2002/sep/22/featuresre...

Hirst was the first mainstream artist to bypass art dealers and auction directly to collectors.

Graffiti in general is underrated.

I love graffiti (artists)!

disclosure: linking to my own site

KAWS - http://www.limitemagazine.com/2008/09/interview-with-kaws-a-...

Neckface - http://www.limitemagazine.com/2009/10/neckface-the-devils-di...

Chivitz - http://www.limitemagazine.com/2008/10/limite-introduces-chiv...

Banksy - http://www.limitemagazine.com/2008/10/banksy%E2%80%99s-busin...

Awesome site! Enjoyed the kaws interview, he's one of my favorites.

Thanks!

He's coming back to Miami soon (Dec 2-6), so I am going to be getting more shots of his artwork.

I agree.

Fafi! is the best!! [http://www.fafi.net/images/images.html]

Miss Van is a huge inspiration to me as well. [http://images.google.com/images?q=miss+van]

Check out wooster collective (.com). It's a street art blog that I follow, some great work gets posted there.

Dieter Rams.

This needs to be voted up to the top. Possibly the best industrial designer that's ever been. Definitely top three in my book, along with Fukasawa and Ive.

Fukasawa! I've seen his stuff, never caught the name; thanks. Now to waste time searching "Fukasawa" on Flickr.

Istvan Sandorfi. http://www.fosaw.com/ Autechre. http://www.autechre.info/ Peter Greenaway. http://www.petergreenaway.info/ Edit: like the OP I could list many more; I could also ruminate for a long time on what common factors combine to create a particular artistic sensibility...but I won't. I believe all art is an attempt to impose order on one small corner of a chaotic universe, and is thus fundamentally an acknowledgement of entropy.

Rodin, Noguchi, Sargent, and Muchas. Diego Rivera for his colors. I suppose this makes me backward, but I enjoy pictures of recognizable human beings engaging in recognizable activities. Also, pretty females.

Kandinsky, Casper David Friedrich, Robert Bordo, and Beyonce Knowles.

Upvoted for Friedrich. I find his commentary on civilization and religion strangely beautiful. You lost me with the Beyonce reference though...

Go to Berlin. See the room of his paintings. No reproductions do them any justice, no matter how well done.

Oh and have you seen the Single Ladies video? Fosse was a genius, and this is him the nth degree.

Paul Klee. I believe his name is pronounced "clay." Check out "Twittering Machine" and "Ancient Sound" in particular. Without thinking too much about it I'd say I like his work because it tends to feel childlike and joyful to me.

And obviously "Twittering Machine" has a new relevance today given the recent emergence and mass acceptance of a particular social communication technology.

Another guy I really like is Alexander Calder. In particular I admire and enjoy climbing his stabiles.

I'm not much of an art person, but I love Duchamp. Just saw his exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art a few weeks ago. I'm also an enormous Pollock fan.

Smaller artists include Leonid Afremov, Rob Gonsalves, and David Lanham. With the exception of Gonsalves it's nothing particularly brilliant, but I enjoy it visually. I also love the artwork of certain comic artists. Bill Watterson, of course, and Berke Breathed, and David Hellman of A Lesson is Learned.

Ahh, Pollock. For me painting stopped at Pollock. There are many artists I like who came before Pollock, and none who came after. Pollock himself I find to be one of the most difficult painters. Most days I think he is a hack, but on occasion his work speaks to me.

There's still a lot of good stuff today. I really doubt we'll see any painters that revolutionize the form as much, at least not without significantly changing the tools of the medium. He turned painting into a pure creation of content, where what mattered was the canvas rather than the depiction. When you see his work in person it's incredibly powerful.

Magritte: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=magritte&FORM=IGRE

I seem to be rather particular about visual art; there's not a lot that I really like. Jacob Lawrence's paintings strike me as interesting.

In my home/office I have mostly photographs, and of those mostly photographs that I've taken. Also a rather large portrait of Einstein, some artwork of the Brooklyn Bridge, and some original ink drawings by Duane Bibby.

I'm a big fan of Knuth. I haven't purchased any of his Art yet, but I do have an Amazon gift certificate in reserve...

Marcel Duchamp for his consideration that "art" is something socially constructed i.e. not immanent within the thing itself.

Raphael, seeing his paintings in person renewed my love of art.

Many others.

As far as composed music is concerned there are many as well but at this moment I'll say Webern for mystery and Xenakis for energy. Also Helmut Lachenmann is good.

Bryan Larsen: http://www.cordair.com/larsen/

Damn!

I like too many to list them all (my username might indicate I view a lot of art). However, I can single out Carl Spitzweg as my endless source of inspiration, serenity and just pure awesome since his art correlates to my taste almost exactly.

Peter Paul Rubens. He showed with paintings how things are supposed to be done. His painting are an avalanche of skill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens

I've always been fascinated by the art and architecture of Eugene Tsui.

http://images.google.com/images?q=Eugene+Tsui

http://www.tdrinc.com/

I've always been a fan of the works of Joan Miro and El Greco.

I also have a painting by J. Stancin that I like a lot. He's not a very well-known artist, though, so I haven't seen too many of his other paintings.

Big fan of Geiger and, more recently, Paul Booth. Historical preferences tend towards the dada and surreal - Dali, of course, is a favorite.

I like Gerhard Richter, and well-done graffiti. Also some of the stuff coming out of the Leipzig school, Mattias Weischer et al.

Jeff Soto is in my top 5

http://images.google.com/images?q=jeff+soto

Edward Hopper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks

Edward Hopper - seeing his paintings in person at the MFA (including, of course, Nighthawks) was quite an experience.

James B. Hunt http://jamesbhunt.com/

Banksy is pretty rad - http://j.mp/YTWIu

Banksy's not bad, for what he is. In a lot of ways he's the cultural opposite of the Damien Hirst sort—everything Hirst likes Banksy hates and vice versa. But he's not particularly interesting stylistically, and a lot of his work is derivative, if pleasant to look at. His anti-consumerist screeds are similarly fun to listen to, but not particularly bright.

Major points for being the Anti-Hirst, and I do really like Banksy, but he's got a limited range.

I'm glad he's around, and hopefully encouraging others to stir things up.

Hirst isn't as bad as people say he is. It's an instance where people don't understand something and take it out by claiming hatred.

Hirst's copyright lawsuits are pure bullshit and enough to make him a very person in my eyes.

What exactly is a very person?

Unlike you, I don't pretend I know enough about the circumstances of Hirst's cases to lay down judgment. I know next to nothing about the art he produces, just enough to understand that perhaps he's doing something more impressive than I think he is. With that as context, there's a possibility that there's more to the lawsuits than the media is showing, and so I give him the benefit of the doubt.

Sorry, omitted a word. A very bad person. Shutting down soneone's elses art because it includes, among several other things, a picture of one of your own, clearly used to make a social commentary about art, is shitty. Especailly since that particular Hirst piece is itself derivative if not an outright copy. No pretending.

Other people using his work is pure bullshit in my eyes. If you want to have a picture of a skull made of diamonds, make a picture of a skull made of diamonds, or pay someone else too. Don't rip off someone else's work.

I doubt Hirst would get so much criticism from defending his work if he were less successful, and his work was being ripped by someone more successful.

Satire != ripped off.

The other artist didn't say that in the interviews I've read. Do you have a source for that?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/hir...

Decide for yourself if this is ripping off Hirst, or creating a legitimate new work that mocks Hirst and his crowd.

This part is interesting:

"But Hirst's complaint was seen as ironic by some in the art world, given the controversy surrounding the provenance of his skull. Three weeks after the artist unveiled the £50m sculpture, another artist, John LeKay, claimed he had been producing similar jewel-encrusted skulls since 1993."

http://www.johnlekay.com/JohnLeKay.GALLERY.htm

By all accounts it appears that someone is taking the piss out of Hirst, and he's being a dick in response.

At least it's inspired more art:

http://www.redragtoabull.com/acatalog/copy_of_INTRODUCTION_-...

And if Hirst has taken a photo of John DeKay's skull, DeKay would be right to take action.

I still haven't seen the artist specifically mention satire.

francis bacon WARNING: not for the faint of heart. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bacon/painting.jpg

self link, but i keep a tumblelog of new artists i find around the internets: http://lowart.unstoppable.org.

Michael Parkes pieces in a few rooms of my house.

Klee, Kandinsky, Escher, Kahlo, Riviera, Ethan Heidelbaugh, Steve Hemingway, Marcel Duchamp, Georgia O'Keefe, and whatshisname that I'm totally spacing out on right now but I'll remember later probably.

Also Margaret Atwood and Ani DiFranco.

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