November 2012
23 posts
Hello! My name is Luke Nispel. I am currently a senior in a city in Nebraska in the United States with very little art influence to be surrounded by. I aspire to make a living as a painter yet there is no one currently around me helping me find the way. Is there any advice you can give a teenager on developing his art, deepening his concepts and growing as painter?
Hi Luke — First thing you need to do is stop thinking of yourself as a “painter” specifically. You need to be an “artist”, and if paint is the right medium to make your point, use that - if not, keep other avenues open as well. The other thing you need to do is read voraciously about the most important contemporary art: Start by reading Artforum cover to cover, every month. THere’s a lot you won’t understand, and much art you will hate. But remember, by becoming an artist, you are essentially committing yourself to learning an entirely new language, and immersion is the only way to do that. Remeber, everything you already think art is for and about is guaranteed to be a cliche, almost by definition. You have to move onto new ground.
Best of luck, Blake
Good after noon Blake. i am an old naive artist and I am very empressed by Mark Rochko fifth work that you show on the ArtBeast from thr Columbia Museum. What can you tell me about it or where can I find more details, is it a drawing, what seize, a print, watercolor, or maybe all three. Thank you for the time you impart to my question. Nice to see a Canadian do so well in the NY art scene. King regards emile-michel you
Hi Emile-Michel — Sorry to be so slow answering. All those Rothkos are from the collection of the National Gallery of Art, and there is good information on each one that you can search for at: http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tsearch?artistid=1839
Best,
Blake
Re: The Wanderer that you posted on 10/30: Did Friedrich paint multiple versions of this? I seem to remember seeing a slide of the same work but with much less color happening in the mist.
I think what you probably saw was a slide that had bad (or different) color reproduction. It’s a notoriously difficult picture to reproduce, and I can’t promise that my version was correct, either!
Cheers,
Blake
