Art and Individuality

“What the superior man seeks is in himself;

what the small man seeks is in

others.” ― Confucius

Following World War II the relevance of

individual identity in art has been

disregarded. This blog intends to shed light on

the continued expression of individuality by

artists.

Karl Zerbe (1903 – 1972)

[All modern artists have] "the desire to give to

the object a functional beyond its naturalistic

aspect to free it from its accidental

surroundings, to develop and organize it within

the frame of the picture into an emotional

potential. In other words, the object is

elevated to a symbol."

Karl Zerbe, Self Portrait with Clown, 1945. Encaustic, 19 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches.

Karl Zerbe, THE MASK OF HER FACE, 1948. Tempera on board, 20 x 25 3/4 inches.

Karl Zerbe, Cyprus II, 1955. Encaustic on board, 39 x 24 inches.

Balcomb Greene (1904 – 1990)

"I do not believe that art should be explicit," .... It should be suggestive and ambiguous so that the viewer has to enter in."

Balcomb Greene, Gertrude III, 1958. Oil on canvas, 62 1/4 x 50 inches.

Balcomb Greene, Two figures,1970. Oil on canvas, 56 x 46 inches.

Balcomb Greene, Shadows and Sea, 1970. Oil on canvas, 61 x 55 inches.

Albert Kotin (1907 – 1980)

"As long as there are people such as Al Kotin,

there is no danger to art." - Alexander Calder

Albert Kotin, Untitled, 1950. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches.

Albert Kotin, Untitled, 1954. Oil on canvas, 70 x 58 inches

Albert Kotin, Party IV, 1964. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches.

Albert Kotin, Testigos, 1968, Quadriptych. Oil on canvas, 104 x 63 inches.

Albert Kotin, Modesty... The Scientist, 1968, Oil on canvas, 39 3/4 x 48 inches.

Ezio Martinelli (1913-1980)

"For myself I venerate all of that which I am

forced to call , for the sake of clarity, the past,

my own Western Heritage and the even older

and brilliant past of the Far East and Near East

and their multiple cultures. In this way I feel I

pay homage to the Titan's, both anonymous

and known."

Ezio Martinelli, Untitled (Abstraction), 1949. Oil on canvas, 71 x 39 inches.

Ezio Martinelli, Untitled, 1950. Oil on canvas, 79 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches.

Ezio Martinelli, Grief, 1951. Oil on canvas, 60 x 25 inches.

Leon Golub (1922 – 2004)

The ART news writer Amei Wallach once wrote: "Golub was a righteous monster who reconciled painting with the unpalatable realities of his time."

Leon Golub, The Orator IV, 1962. Oil on canvas, 37 x 30 3/4 inches

Robert Nathans (1955 – 2016)

"I bring all my memories with me as I stand in

front of my canvases. Here my intuition comes

into play. It will sometimes take me months of

working. Then, somewhere in this process of

painting and observing. I would inextricably

disappear. Unaware of body, time, and space

when I become painting."

Robert Nathans, The Distractive Character, 1986. Oil on wood and tree stumps, 36 x 14 inches.

Anki King (1970 – )

"Emotions are the base of the work I make and

I use paint and brushstrokes to express what I

want to say, and the feeling I wish to convey.

Painting to me is a collaborative process. Oil

paint is a live medium and if you do something

with it, it does something back that you again

can respond to; it is a communication. Every

work I create contains figures or figurative

elements. I always enjoyed the figure and I

have a love relationship with it as form. It is

also the most direct way I can convey my own

experience and it is ultimately this experience

I create out of."