Contemporary Fine Art you find interesting

[Cepro]

Since we have a "Shitty Art" Thread, and generally a lot of people seem to think that contemporary fine art is about shit, abusing animals or abstract paintings which don't take a lot of effort, I thought I'd make a thread in wich you can show contemporary fine art that you like.
Now I'm not saying I know a lot about contemprary fine Art, but that is also a reason why I'd like to ask you to show some of the things you think are good.

www.artivi.com has some nice videos.
Artists who I find interesting are for example:
Cai guo-qiang (you can find a video on artivi)
Murakami Katsumi (sadly theres almost no Info on the internet)

I recently also met Karin Kneffel (who is now a teacher at the Academy of Arts in Munich) and I thought her paintings show that contemporary Art is not only about abstraction (only a very small part is if you ask me).
http://www.kneffel.de/
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Also I think you should watch this video (If you understand German) in which people talk about a scuplture Olaf Metzel did:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C36f6eH50FA
Some of the things said in the video:

"They (Artist) should be impaled"
"This is dictatorship, just like with the nazis or the communists"
"In our world it is not the terrorists who should be fought, but rather those, who make terrorists out of good people" (personally I do not see the connection here)

[Homeless Foxman]

A lot of this stuff is very good. And I wouldn't say that most people think contemporary art in general is bad, but there is a wide range of contemporary art, and a lot of this is bad, mostly because A lot of people try to do it, and some of those people haven't even learned the basics. And this isn't a rip on contemporary art either, there are lots and lots of talented contemporary artist such as the ones that you posted. What I said is true of all types of art, but people mostly focus on contemporary art because other types of art to not have people doing things to live animals that shouldn't even be thought about. There are a lot of bad concept artists, mostly not on here cause they get helped and become better :). But there are some here and a lot on places like deviant art. There are bad of every type of artist though.

Oh, and I just want to clarify, the "Shitty Art" thread was a thread specifically talking about art that was made from shit, literally. Good old human feces. There was a post about an inhumane "artist" also, but the shitty artist is the main focus.

[Jasonwclark]

How contemporary is contemporary?

http://morpheusgallery.com/

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/about.php

[Brendan N]

Alex Kanevsky (http://www.somepaintings.net/Alex.html) is always worth a mention in my books:

http://www.somepaintings.net/2008/images/DSC_5663.jpg

http://www.somepaintings.net/2007/images/FDKB.jpg

http://www.somepaintings.net/2005/images/Killala.jpg

[Gerulaitis]

Roman Opalka's infinity project (http://www.lvhrd.org/index.php/2007/07/27/the-weight-of-the-infinite) must be my single most favorite artwork.

http://www.lvhrd.org/wp-content/images/380/20070727_015427.jpg

I admire some Marina Abramović' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Abramovic) performances. Like the one for Bienal de Venecia (http://docentes.uacj.mx/fgomez/museoglobal/photogallery/A/abramovic/marina%20abramovic%20balcan%20baroque%201997.jpg). (the auto-biographical movie "Balkan Baroque" (http://www.ubu.com/film/coulibeuf.html))

http://www.haberarts.com/marina2.jpg

Earth art is fascinating...
Wolfgang Laib (http://thecontextualvillains.org/synapse/?p=15) and Andy Goldsworthy (http://www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk/browse/) being my favorites.

http://www.lyseo.edu.ouka.fi/kuvataide/albums/album04/302_G.sized.png

http://www.writedesignonline.com/history-culture/AndyGoldsworthy/goldsworthy.jpg

I actually like Rauschenberg's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rauschenberg) work.

http://www.cnac-gp.fr/education/ressources/ENS-Rauschenberg-EN/images/xl/Rauschenberg_Monogram.jpg

Lucian Freud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_Freud) is a long time favorite.

http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~alderett/images/freud_1_400.jpg

Brancusi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Brancusi) likewise... Though maybe he's not contemporary enought for this topic.

http://carboncopy.hobix.com/archives/moma%20brancusi.jpg

Arnaldo Pomodoro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaldo_Pomodoro).

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/68006188_00c69d76a9.jpg

Jean Tinguely (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Tinguely)

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/images/BB/9.jpg
Though his work should be heard and seen in motion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaisD756Ats&feature=related), if in person isn't possible.

[Cepro]

just wanted to thank everyone who has contributed so far. That really is some nice Art.
I know the shity-art thread is called like that because real feces were uses, but nonetheless I thought a thread wich also showed a different perspective wouldn't hurt.

[Marcatili]

I think the definition of contemporary is work that is produced by artists currently living.
The day after an artist dies, their work is part of history and no longer contemporary.

[Cepro]

I think the definition of contemporary is work that is produced by artists currently living.
The day after an artist dies, their work is part of history and no longer contemporary.

Not only that, but I also think it should have some reference to contemporary culture/world/life (or what ever you want to call it). This may also be a reason why youger people often feel no conection to art by artists who are still alive, but way older. And thus leading to statements that contemporary art nowadays mostly is garbage. (with exeptions of course like low brow or pop-surrealism where a lot of artists are of younger age).
Sometimes I also feel that "elitism", especially in europe leads to artists not beeing conected to contemprary life and also to look back to what art looked like 20 or so years ago.
Now this reference I'm talking about doesn't mean contemporary art has to look at pop-culture, but rather that artists just open their eyes to their surroundings and truly try to be alive in the very time they live in.

[geckochan]

Good thread! Nice to see some love for a change. I went the fine art route in school and am now doing an MA, but work an illustrative approach in, and do comics as well so have a lot of comic artist friends - so I'm privy to both sides of the "great divide" as it were, and there definitely is a bit of hostility/nose-turning going both ways! A great shame.

Here are just a few of my favourite artists. I work a lot around themes of diaspora/globalization/ambiguous cultural identities etc, so these are artists I discovered through shows relating to those themes, although it's not the only area their work relates to of course.

DoHo Suh is a great favourite of mine - first found him through his amazing full-size translucent fabric recreations of the interiors of houses and apartments he lived in. He does all kinds of wonderful sculptural work though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/geckochan/do-ho-suh_cause-efect-2007.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/geckochan/artwork_images_651_65528_do-ho-suh.jpg

Jun Nguyen Hatsushiba creates entrancing underwater videos. If you go to the Lehmann Maupin Gallery's site and look under artists, some of his videos can be watched online, which I highly recommend you do:
http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/
(Do-Ho Suh is also on with Lehmann Maupin)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/geckochan/hatsushiba01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/geckochan/hatsushiba2.jpg

Yinka Shonibare is most well-known for his installations exploring colonial history using European clothing created with the Asian-produced batik fabrics popular in Africa

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/geckochan/shonibare.jpg

He also diversifies a bit too - I really enjoy this piece called Dysfunctional Family ^_^

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/geckochan/dysfunctionalfamily-yinkashonibare.jpg

[petitemistress]

Not sure if I'm gonna come off as a freak BUT... I LOVE Mark Ryden's freakish oil paintings. the guy is pure genius, if i met him, my head would explode.

Check him out!! http://www.markryden.com/
If you like your weird/creepy fix hammered into a healthy dose of cute art... You'll love his royal highness of Sick /FAINTS.

hmm... That sounded like a sales pitch... xD

[Ilaekae]

I've enjoyed Ryden's stuff for a while now. Like the way his mind works...

[Brendan N]

oooh Ryden - recently did an analysis on a painting of his for an exam paper:

http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/7d7/c59/7d7c5963-26d1-4ea3-959b-37b531c90cb8


Didn't realise it was Ryden until I recognised the style just now - thanks for the link miss petite. He has some fantastic stuff, lots of poetry and commentary wrapped up in his chiaroscuro figures...

[fanficbug]

Since we have a "Shitty Art" Thread, and generally a lot of people seem to think that contemporary fine art is about shit, abusing animals or abstract paintings which don't take a lot of effort, I thought I'd make a thread in wich you can show contemporary fine art that you like.
Now I'm not saying I know a lot about contemprary fine Art, but that is also a reason why I'd like to ask you to show some of the things you think are good.

Aww :( I love some abstract art. It takes more effort than you would think. True, some of it seems rather effortless when taken at face value, but (and I believe this suggestion has been mentioned elsewhere) you never really know how difficult it is until you jump in and try it.

As for my favorite contemporary artists . . . most of them are fractal artists because I spent a lot of time in the community and because I spent five years working in fractals, so I know what makes a good fractal and what doesn't. :)

These are the pieces (in order) that I really love, along with their artists:

1. "Knife Party" by Trevor Costello (Cryptfiend (http://cryptfiend.deviantart.com/))
2. "Twilight at Ra's Temple" by Jacob Laren (thearchon (http://thearchon.deviantart.com/))
3. "Evolution" by Tristian Hilton (Trystianity (http://trystianity.deviantart.com/))
4. "The Secret Vision" by Denise Goldeau (denise-g (http://denise-g.deviantart.com/))
5. "Counterspell IV" by Peter Sdobriov (Zueuk (http://zueuk.deviantart.com/))

I hope nobody minds me posting them here . . . sorry for the big files, I can't resize them (not without them being considered derivative works; I know very well HOW to resize them, I'm simply not allowed).

[ASRA]

Most inspiring works:

Sophie Calle
asked blind people: "What is beautiful"? and took photos of what they answered (clowds, the lost home in Yougoslawia, the fur of a tiger, etc.) (1)

Rebecca Horn
and her body art (2, 3)

ASRA

[petitemistress]

He has some fantastic stuff, lots of poetry and commentary wrapped up in his chiaroscuro figures...

Ilaekae and Brendan, I agree! Also, I love how you always find something new to look at when you admire his paintings; ie, I had never noticed the star shaped sparkle in the little girl's eye in St Barbie before! :D

ASRA - I love Sophie Calle! didn't she do a series of "detective" photography? you know where she followed people on the street, took pictures and made up stories for them? she's a brilliant kinda weird...

[ASRA]

Hello petitemistress,

Yes, thats what she did! She told her mother to hire a private eye to follow her (Sophie), to observe her and take photos. So HE didn`t know that SHE knew ...

ASRA