artists who inspire.

The Kiss , 1908 Expectation , 1905 Virgin Mother and Child   Music , 1895 Gustav Klimt was born in 1962 near Vienna in Austria-Hungary. He is characterized by his use of color and pattern in his portraits, which I think are beautiful! The wild designs give the pieces life rather than distract, which is a hard feat! I definitely want to implement this techniques into my own work. Please go explore some of his other work on this website , he is brilliant! (Disclaimer: It's difficult to find the original images of his work, because there are so many different versions and restorations, so I apologize if these are not exactly correct!)

2016 How to Hold Baby   In Their Image , 2017 Leaning on a Mother She Gave Him the Mountains and He Gave Her the City, 2018 Us With Them and Them With Us , 2017 Caitlin Connolly is a young, Utah-based artist, and she is one of my very all-time favorite artists. I love her concepts of womanhood, motherhood, religion, family, spousal love, fertility. Her figures are uniquely hers, with motifs like triangle dresses and large feet. Her color palettes and oil painting textures are beautiful. Basically, she is everything I want to be as an artist! I just included a few paintings that I love, but please check out all her work on her website!

Breath of Life (From the Dust) Every Knee Shall Bow , 2008 On Equal Pedestals , 2016 Angel of Empathy , 2013 Sanctuary , 2016 J. Kirk Richards is one of my favorite Latter-day Saint artists because of the way he uses texture and earth tones, and how he is able to portray so much emotion even when many, if not most of his figures are faceless. I really resonate with his themes and concepts, and I think all of his work is just beautiful. Please check out more of his art on his website .

Untitled (Study for Tondus enclosure zoo, Onomatopoeia) , 2016   Untitled (It Means it Means; Beuys, Square Gasket) , 2013-2015 Untitled (Kids Playing on Raft) , 2015  Untitled (Itinerants Waiting for Labour Exchange to be Open) , 2017 Charles Avery is a Scottish artist who, as part of his artistic endeavors, has created an imaginary place known as "The Island" and within it, the town "Onomatopoeia." This idea sets the stage for a lot of his art, which I think is such a fascinating concept! Apart from that, I love his limited palettes, the way he can portray expression using minimal marks, and how he can successfully include many, many figures in a single drawing without making it feel too busy or overwhelming. I will be taking some notes from him on how to accomplish group portraits! To learn more about him and to check out more of his art, check out this website .

Caelum 18 Quidam 11, Time Reveals Truth Caelum 52 Quidam 43, To Wander Through Caelum 2 Jylian Gustlin, native to California, simply blows me away with her figure art. Everything about her style I love! The bright colors, the carefully chosen palettes, the loose lines, the expressive figures, the beautiful textures in the paint. I would love to practice some figure art in her style to help me find my own way of using color/texture/line effectively. I only included a few from two of her series called "Quidam" and "Caelum" in this post, but she has many others that are just as stunning. Please, please check them out at her website !

Something Split and New , 2013  Dwell: Aso Ebi , 2017  5 Umezebi St. New Haven Enugu , 2012 When the Going is Smooth and Good , 2017 "The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born" Might Not Hold True for Much Longer , 2013 Njideka Akunyili Crosby was born in 1983 in Nigeria, and explores themes of living in two worlds/cultures (Nigeria and America). She uses collage, paint, and photo-transfer to create her visually stunning images. I absolutely love her style! The color palettes are beautiful and engaging, and the photo/collage elements give it life without making it too busy. Her titles are ambiguous and intriguing, as well. Hers is a style I would love to emulate, and collage painting is something that has just recently sparked my interest in my own work. Please check out more of her work on her website !

Illegal Alien's Guide to the Theory of Surplus Value , 2009   Elvis Meets the Virgin of Guadalupe , 1994   100% Product Oriented Liberty Club #2 , 2006 Untitled Blue Man , 1996 Mexican-American artist Enrique Chagoya tackles concepts of corruption, politics, and controversy in his mixed-media paintings and prints. He has a distinct style and a way of mark-making that I love. His work all feels very charged and opinionated, which I love, because to me, one of the roles an artist assumes is bringing to light things in society that need to change. To check out more of Chagoya's work, check out this website .

Multiple Bearings , 1997 Transient Transformations II , 1996 Veil' n Trail , (Triptych) , 1997 Unknown Fleshy Weapons , 1997 Shahzia Sikander is an American-Pakistani painter whose work is inspired by art history, minimalism, and cultural identity. She skillfully bridges cultures together as she draws from all kinds of sources, like Middle Eastern identity, and Indo-Persian miniature painting. I love her colors, her stylized figures, her shapes, and line work. I admire how she is able to seamlessly weave different parts of her identity into her work, and that is something I want to learn from! To learn more about her and see more of her work, visit this website .

Untitled , 1999 Untitled , 2004 Untitled , 2000 Untitled , 2000   Untitled , 2004 Laylah Ali's gouache paintings and drawings are seriously mysterious (and her titles aren't much help haha). Many of them depict racially ambiguous figures with round heads. To me, they feel politically charged, but I can't figure out why. Her Wikipedia entry tells us that he earlier work was more violent, but now she focuses on what happens before and after that violence, which is an intriguing idea. I love the fact that I have to dig to figure out what her work is about, and I hope to translate some of that ambiguity into my own work. To see more of her paintings, visit this website .

From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes Something about Ida Applebroog's figure paintings just intrigue me--maybe it's the fact that they're stick figures, or that they are made out of all sorts of different shapes, or that different body parts are exaggerated in each one, or maybe it's the textures, or the finger-painted nature. Whatever it is, I love it. To represent her work, I picked pieces from her series called "Fancy Shoes" because they were my favorite! They just made me smile. The concept is so simple, but for some reason it really touches me. Check out more of Ida's work on her website .