Contemporary Artists

Question 1

Yaacov Agam

Answer 1

• Agam is known as the “Father of Kinetic Art”, which incorporates movement as part of the design. The art cannot exist without the viewer interacting with the art. The viewer plays a role in creating the aesthetic appearance.
• Agam created the “Agamograph,” which is defined by a multiple series of images viewed through a lenticular lens, creating change at every angle. Agam invites the viewer to come close, touch, move, and participate actively in a changing experience.
• Agam was selected to hold a one-man retrospective at the Guggenheim museum in New York City.
• Agam’s works are featured in major locations all around the world, examples of which include the “Villa Regina” tower in Miami, “The Agam Fountain” in Paris, “Reflection and Depth” at the Port Authority in New York, “Communication X9” on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and “Communication night and day” at the AT&T Building in New York.
• Agam was commissioned by George Pompidou (president of the French Republic) to create “Elysee Salon.” The work of art is an entire room (Salon) within the Pompidou museum in Paris and consists of polymorphic and metapolymorphic works which transform as the viewer moves around within the space. The accuracy of the work is evident in the simple fact that the floor covering alone took 4 1/2 years to complete.

Question 2

Emile Bellet

Answer 2

• Bellet paints women with no faces, representing the universal woman encompassing beauty and femininity.
• Bellet paints entirely with a palette knife, no brush. He uses the “less is more” philosophy in his use of color, and simplicity of composition to extract as much as possible from a limited number of variables – brining simple elegance to the work.
• Bellet excels at lithography. He creates lithographs at the same studio where Marcel Mouly created his lithographs and works with the same team. Much like Mouly, Bellet has a timeless appeal that is rooted in the inspiration from the great fauves.

Question 3

Andrew Bone

Answer 3

• Bone is recognized for the detail and photo-realism in his works, which is a result of his real life experiences with the animal species. Bone spends time up-close and personal with the animals to capture the photo realistic details of his subjects.
• Bone worked as a conservationist and guide before turning to art – he is fully educated in the nature of the animals he paints. Landscape in his work is completely authentic to the species he is painting and just as important from a conservation standpoint.
• Bone’s artwork captures his immense respect and awe for the animals of Africa, as well as their natural beauty. Bone has said, “Don’t paint it unless you’ve studied it, been chased by it, or done something to save it.”

Question 4

Romero Britto

Answer 4

• Britto was commissioned by Absolut Vodka for a high profile ad campaign along with Keith Haring and Andy Warhol. This incredible opportunity catapulted Britto into the limelight alongside Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. Other commissions followed by: Gran Marnier, Pepsi Cola, Apple computers, IBM, Disney, a United Nations postage stamp series, Britto Mini Cooper for BMW, and Bank Atlantic.
• Britto was commissioned by the NFL to create the Super Bowl XLI pre-show in 2007. In collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, the entire Dolphin stadium in Miami was turned into a giant Britto canvas.
• Britto’s art is shown in more than 140 galleries nationwide. Collectors of Britto’s work include Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Andre Agassi, as well as the Guggenheims, the Rothchilds, the Kennedys, and former Whitney Museum President, William Woodside. Britto has also been collected by the Vatican and exhibited at the Louvre twice.

Question 5

Slava Brodinsky

Answer 5

• Brodinsky is a Russian born artist whose talent was recognized and encouraged from an early age.
• Brodinsky’s art depicts countryside scenes in an incredible symphony of colors. He mixes sand and plaster with his pigments and then coarsely applies it to the canvas to build up texture. The way light interacts with this rough surface produces a show stopping effect.
• Brodinsky travels the world extensively to find the unique and fascinating depth of color created by the magical light of the Mediterranean.

Question 6

Simon Bull

Answer 6

• Bull was selected to exhibit a one-man show at Harrod’s in London, where 76 of his paintings were exhibited.
• During his career, Bull’s work has been introduced by Randy Jackson of American Idol, unveiled in New York by Donald Trump, and featured on ABC Television’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition as well as MTV Cribs and ShopNBC. In 2002 Bull was named the official artist of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
• Bull painted several paintings of Muhammad Ali, which were presented to the Muhammad Ali center at the inaugural ceremony for the museum. Park West has donated numerous mixed media paintings of Ali by Simon Bull to the center, which remain in their permanent collection. These same works have other variations signed by Muhammad Ali and Simon Bull, which are available through Park West exclusively.

Question 7

Alexander Chen

Answer 7

• Chen was one of the official artists of the U.S. Olympic Committee for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Furthermore Chen has been commissioned by global brands including Unicef, Toshiba, and North West Airlines.
• Chen paints only those places he has personally visited. After taking thousands of photographs and spending hours upon hours interpreting them into paintings.
• His work amplifies human visual perception. His paintings reveal a broader perspective than is humanly possible, and simultaneously of detail which cannot be perceived in nature. This is what produces the “wonderment” when looking at his work.

Question 8

Hua Chen

Answer 8

• Chen is recognized for capturing the timeless beauty of music and the female form.
• Chen was selected as one of the artists of the U.S. Olympic committee and created a work of art for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Furthermore, Chen’s works are amongst the permanent collection of the National Art Museum of China.
• Chen grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China when western art was prohibited. His father used to sneak in books on western art. As a result, Chen was exposed and influenced by impressionists and post-impressionists including Degas, Renoir, Lautrec and Manet. It is extraordinary and historical that a Chinese artist from the communist system paints impressionism.

Question 9

James Coleman

Answer 9

• Coleman began as an animation background painter, which was to change his life forever. Over the years he collaborated with more than 5 animation movies for Disney Studios where he developed his ability to create computer generated images.
• Coleman works in oil, watercolor, gouache and pastor. His work is impressionistic and luminous. His pieces intrigue the eye and touch the heart. You can feel the warmth in his paintings. As a master of color, light, and design Coleman has become one of the most collected and sought-after Disney artists around the world.
• As one of the few artists in the world licensed to create Disney imagery, Coleman’s work is highly desirable. The contributions made by Coleman to the world of art span over 30 years both in film and fine art.

Question 10

Erté

Answer 10

• Erte is perhaps most famous for his elegant fashion designs which capture the art deco period in which he worked. His delicate figures and sophisticated, glamorous designs are instantly recognizable, and his ideas and art still influence fashion into the 21st century.
• Between 1915 -1937, Erte designed over 200 covers for Harper’s Bazaar, and his illustrations would also appear in such publications as Illustrated London News, Cosmopolitan and Vogue.
• Erte’s work can be found in the collections of several well-known museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a sizable collection of work by Erte can be found at Museum 1999 in Tokyo.

Question 11

Marcus Glenn

Answer 11

• A native of Detroit, Glenn is known for his use of bright colors and his expressive use of papers and fabrics, creating a masterful textured collage effect. He has created a unique form of combining painting with sculpture to form a bas-relief. He calls this style “Flat Life” and has been developing the idea for more than a decade.
• Prior to becoming recognized for his artwork, Glenn worked on an assembly line for Chrysler during the day and developed his art style at night. Glenn became the first African American and the youngest cartoonist in the Detroit News. As a free-lance cartoonist his daily comic strip ‘Double Trouble’ ran for four years.
• One of Glenn’s works is in the permanent collection at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan, an honor typically reserved for much older artists.

Question 12

Alfred Gockel

Answer 12

• Gockel is known as an “ambidextrous action painter” as he paints with both hands simultaneously.
• As a young artist, Gockel met Dali, and told him he wanted to be an artist and asked him what he needed to do. Dali told him, “you must work very hard, you must study the masters, but not copy them and you must find your own “voice” and “identity.” His influences are apparent as Dali, Miro, Picasso, and Kandinsky, but his work is instantly recognizable as “Gockel.”
• Gockel has sold over 100,000,000 posters and open edition prints. Gockel was commissioned by the U.S. Olympic committee to create an official work of art for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Question 13

Scott Jacobs

Answer 13

• Jacobs became the first officially licensed Harley-Davidson artist. Jacobs is also licensed by the Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley estates. Jacobs is in the collection of Malcolm Forbes (who was once Publisher of Forbes magazine).
• Depending on the size, each painting takes Jacobs more than 100 hours to complete.

• Jacobs uses a brush with a tip the size of a pencil point to create the details that render his work
photo-realistic.

• Jacobs is a master of the reflective surface and light. For this reason, his wine bottles and motorcycles stand out as sheer masterpieces and stand testament to his popularity.

Question 14

Thomas Kinkade

Answer 14

• Kinkade is the most widely collected artist in the United States. Kinkade is known as the “The painter of light.” He uses techniques of the late 19th century American painters, known as Luminists. His paintings radiate light, inviting viewers to bask in the nostalgia of earlier, less stressful times.
• His devotion to his family is shown in his work with “love notes” by hiding the letter “N” in all his paintings as a tribute to his childhood sweetheart and wife Nanette.
• Kinkade created the DNA matrix signature concept.

Question 15

Anatole Krasnyansky

Answer 15

• Krasnyansky’s traditional cityscapes are influenced by his previous career as an architect in the U.S.S.R. His life and experiences living in U.S has inspired a wholly new style with vivid colors, musical themes, and masks. The masks featured in Krasnyansky’s artworks represent masks for the different facets of our lives. He has said “do you think that our ‘holiday mask’ looks the same as the mask that we wear to work? Krasnyansky believes that the only time we remove our masks all together is when we’re completely alone and by ourselves.
• As an architect, he once worked as the set designer for a rock video for the rock band “Kiss.”
• Many of Krasnyansky’s one-of-a-kind watercolor paintings are created on a special Japanese rice paper that is specially prepared by him to create a unique textural surface. Krasnyansky is one of the first artists to elevate the watercolor medium to the expressive possibilities usually associated with oil painting.

Question 16

Lebadang

Answer 16

• Known simply as Lebadang, his real name is “Leba Dang”
• He was born in 1922 in Vietnam and still creates artwork today.
• At age 17, he immigrated to France to gain an education in fine art, and he blended the influences of his native culture with European techniques to create his own, signature style.
• Lebadang often works in mixed media, creating sculptural, highly textured artwork. He’s been know to express himself through painting, watercolor, sculpture, jewelry and graphic works.
• “My art works are often strange but simple,” Lebadang has said, “so everyone can hopefully feel happy and relaxed, and that’s why they like them.”

Question 17

Fanch Ledan

Answer 17

• Fanch often pays homage to his favorite artists (i.e. Picasso, Matisse, Tarkay, Le Kinff,) by inserting their works into his “interiorscapes.”
• Fanch creates spatial relationships that do not exist in reality; walls don’t line up. Spaces disappear and reappear in other positions. He “changes” reality to create his own “imaginary” world to invite the viewer. Furthermore, Fanch will often create combinations of locations that cannot exist in reality like a view of the Taj Majal or the Pyramids of Egypt from an elegant private balcony.
• Since 1973, Fanch has had more than fifty one-person shows including exhibitions at Champs- Elysees in Paris and the Pantechnicon Gallery in San Fransisco.

Question 18

Charles Lee

Answer 18

• Lee’s works can be classified into two distinct styles – his more traditional works often feature women, musical themes and a romantic tone while his contemporary works are often bright with bold and vivid colors.
• Lee has a penchant for a bright and eye-catching pallet (including gold foil) that demonstrates his keen sense of color; yet in spite of such vibrant imagery he presents his subjects in a calm reflective and almost ethereal way.
• Lee has always been passionate about music. It is the inspiration behind many of his musically themed art works today. During his younger years, Lee was the lead singer of his own band.

Question 19

Linda Le Kinff

Answer 19

• Le Kinff was the official artist for the World Cup in 1998 (an honor now shared with world famous artists Peter Max and Romero Britto). As a result of being chosen, the French government minted a commemorative medallion of one of her works in her honor, marking the first time a living artist has received this honor.
• Le Kinff was also the official artist for the Kentucky Derby in 2010

• Le Kinff’s influences include the hidden sensuality of Braque, the masterful drawing of Matisse, the
elegance of Modigliani and the precocious maturity of Egon Schiele.

• Le Kinff’s works were formerly published by Christies of London, the art publishing division of Christie’s London.
• Le Kinff’s works are elegant in their simplicity and invite the viewer into a world that is free of all the modern day fuss and stress. Her figures are at peace, absorbed in a world that is full of life’s fruitfulness. Her work can’t be placed in any kind of category; it is beyond style or trend. It is perpetually contemporary.

Question 20

Nano Lopez

Answer 20

• In his artistic process, Nano integrates organic textures and synthetic, human made objects into his bronzes to create pieces of art that reflect the same depth and richness he sees in the world around him. The bronze sculpture is created by the Lost Wax Process. The unique and time- consuming patinas are applied to emphasize surface details, patterns and textures.
• Spirited, fanciful creatures, Nano’s limited - edition bronze animals are a fascinating fusion of intricate details, rich textures, and surprising connections. Nano invites us to look at the world more carefully and discover for ourselves the vibrant interwoven fabric of life.
• His subject matter, primarily figurative, describes the essential in the human condition in a strong and emotionally charged way. Surface texture is an important element in his pieces. The combination of his classical training and experimentation with materials has led to the production of avant-garde art, which combines powerful aesthetic considerations and rich textural surfaces.

Question 21

Csaba Markus

Answer 21

• Markus’ distinctive style is like no other, and for this reason he is incomparable to other artists. His unique style can be described as a contemporary fusion of Renaissance Europe and Classical Mythology. Markus is a renaissance artist of our time. He is totally devoted to his craft, controls every aspect of it; makes his own dried pigment, hand crafts his own frames, creates and pulls his own silk screens, hand embellishes the artwork with ground glass, platinum, and 24 carat gold. It is his desire for each and every artwork to be unique and individual objet d’art.
• Markus paints images of women who are smart, confident, beautiful, but also sophisticated and strong. He says the world has enough ugliness in it; we change our channels and see war, poverty, hunger and violence; he wants his work to be a “channel” of positive messages and hope.
• Today one cannot collect a Michelangelo, Caravaggio or Botticelli but one can collect works by an artist who has been inspired by all of these master artists.

Question 22

Felix Mas

Answer 22

• Felix Mas is best known for capturing ideal visions of femininity in his lush, exquisite oil paintings and graphic works, expressively showing the tender beauty of women.
• Mas was born in 1934 in Barcelona, Spain, lived in Venezuela 1974-1979, and today divides his time between Barcelona and the United States.
• In the style of Alphonse Mucha, Mas frequently depicts women representative of the Four Seasons.

Question 23

Marko Mavrovich

Answer 23

• Mavrovich calls upon some of the true styles of the great impressionist masters Monet and Renoir, although his work is more influenced by the California impressionists. The ability to own beautiful original impressionist artwork from a contemporary artist is an excellent opportunity for collectors.
• Though he lives in CA, Mavrovich spends much of his time in Europe and particularly his hometown of Croatia which is clearly the inspiration behind many of his Mediterranean themed artworks today.
• The son of a painter, Mavrovich is self-taught and turned to painting full time after nearly losing his hand in while working as a diver cleaning the hulls of boats in harbor. He considers his father, who died when Marko was a boy, to be his primary influence as an artist.

Question 24

Peter Max

Answer 24

• Born in Germany and raised around the world, Max is nothing less than an iconic American artist.
• Max’s imagination and vision can be found in over 100 museums and galleries worldwide and on a variety of canvases, including the Berlin Wall and a Boeing 777 jumbo jet, currently in use by Continental Airlines.
• Max has been on the cover of Life Magazine and has had numerous national TV appearances including Johnny Carson and Larry King. Max’s visual impact on the 60’s has often been compared to the influence the Beatles had with their music.
• Max has painted portraits for the last six U.S. presidents including a painting for President Barrack Obama called 44 Obamas (44th president) for a museum installation. He has also painted portraits for the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gobachev.
• Max is a proud American and created a series of artworks that were sold specifically to raise money to help repair and restore the Statue of Liberty.
• Max has been designated Official Artist for the Grammys, the 25th Anniversary of the New Orleans Jazz Festival and the Woodstock Music Festival. For the 20th anniversary of Woodstock, Max was asked to create the world’s largest rock-and-roll stage for the Moscow Music Peace Festival.
• Max has been the Official Artist for five Super Bowls, The World Cup USA, The U.S. Tennis Open and the NHL All-Star Game. The current “peacock” design for NBC is Max’s design.
• Max’s one-man retrospective show at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg drew the largest turnout for any artist in Russian history. Over 14,500 people attended.

Question 25

Igor Medvedev

Answer 25

• Medvedev is inspired by the light and history of the Mediterranean often traveling and painting on location
• He uses thick impasto brush strokes. Critics have claimed he “paints like a sculptor” - lending serigraphy as the perfect medium for his graphic editions.
• The viewer is drawn into a world dominated by serene beauty, balance and order. Strong clean forms and dramatic use of light and shadow are the hallmark of his warm, expressive style.

Question 26

Marcel Mouly

Answer 26

• Up until 2008, Mouly was the last living artist to have worked alongside Picasso. Having created a unique, trademark style, Mouly developed a reputation as one of the most important modernist artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Mouly was influenced by Braque, Matisse, and Picasso the most. Matisse influenced Mouly in the Fauvist use of color that is apparent in Mouly’s unique style.
• Park West offers an extraordinary collecting opportunity for Mouly’s lithographs, as Park West exclusively published Mouly’s lithograph editions for the last 10 years of his life.
• Mouly’s work has been exhibited all over the world, including in the permanent collections of more than 20 museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in Japan, the Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki, and Paris’ Bilbiotheque Nationale.

Question 27

Peter Nixon

Answer 27

• Nixon’s imagery deals with the concepts of movement, instantaneous expression and gesture, romance, music, dance and poetry. He is deeply steeped in art history and is a master draftsman.
• Peter Nixon has the distinction of having influenced both Janet Treby and Gary Benfield, both world famous artists in their own right. Nixon really is an innovator and his collectors know they own the artist who has inspired other artists stylistically.
• Nixon’s work is attractively priced, and many collectors enjoy collecting an entire grouping of his artworks.

Question 28

Dominic Pangborn

Answer 28

• Pangborn is best defined as an “Evolutionist.” He believes that art should reflect a current mood, expression and a point in time.
• Pangborn has established his own fashion label, the Pangborn Design Collection. Today Pangborn’s art is incorporated into fashion and home décor. Pangborn has his own retail stores, which bear his name – locations throughout metro Detroit and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.
• Pangborn’s art has been published in Playboy and exhibited at museums across the country including the esteemed Detroit Institute of Art.

Question 29

Alex Pauker

Answer 29

• Pauker is one of the youngest acclaimed contemporary artists to have emerged from Israel recently. Pauker’s command over the techniques of painting and serigraphy, are advanced way beyond his years. For this reason, Pauker is considered one of the most “up and coming artists” on the scene today.
• Pauker’s works are greatly inspired by his travels around the world uniting the sense of peace, natural beauty, and tranquility.
• Pauker uses an extraordinary impasto technique and often achieves this by painting with a palette knife.

Question 30

Pino

Answer 30

• Born Giuseppe Dangelico in Bari, Italy, Pino lived from 1939-2010. Pino primarily worked as an artist for the book publishing industry.
• Pino’s recognizable style frequently connects with the public on a deep level, as his themes deftly portray the complexities of human relationships, states of connection and separation.
• Pino’s unique works were most often sold through galleries on consignment, and when Pino passed in 2010, his estate recalled all of his paintings that were not purchased. Thus his unique works are rather rare today. We are proud to display one Pino drawing at The Henry; it is one of the only unique Pino works Park West currently owns.

Question 31

Norman Rockwell

Answer 31

• Norman Rockwell is easily one of the most popular and well-known American artists of all time. Rockwell’s illustrations were featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post for 47 years – this led to immense exposure for the artist as he captivated an audience average of 4 million viewers. Rockwell is the recipient of the highest American honor a civilian can receive from the government: the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his “vivid and affectionate portraits of our country.”
• Park West Gallery, through association with the Norman Rockwell Licensing Company (the estate of the artist) and Curtis Publishing (owner of the copyrights of the Saturday Evening Post artwork), has been able in recent years to bring new and exceptional collecting opportunities for Norman Rockwell artworks to enthusiastic collectors.
• During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.

Question 32

Schaefer-Miles

Answer 32

• Also known as Wendy Schaefer and Kevin Miles, this talented husband and wife team create lush landscapes inspired by their love of travel and nature.
• In their artwork the paths through the lush greenery represents the journey of life, while the bright and illuminating light symbolizes their positive faith and strong spiritual beliefs. Both artists collaborate on every painting: one of them paints all the backgrounds, then the other goes over and paints the details.
• Schaefer-Miles have been exhibited at the Art Expo in New York, The Art Expo in Chicago and the Art Expo in Las Vegas.

Question 33

Victor Spahn

Answer 33

• Spahn’s energetic style suggests movement and dynamism in the subjects that he portrays, and they appear to capture the essence of movement in a particular moment.
• Spahn paints with a combination of palette knife and brush.
• Spahn has participated in many exhibitions, including the Salon of Independent Artists, France in 1970. He also won first prize in New York for mosaic table.

Question 34

Itzchak Tarkay

Answer 34

• Tarkay has achieved recognition as a leading representative of a new generation of figurative artists.
• Tarkay’s work exemplifies the color sophistication of Matisse and the drawing style of Toulouse- Lautrec.
• Today Tarkay is considered one of the most influential figurative artists of the early 21st Century and has inspired dozens of artists throughout the world with his contemplative depictions of the female figure.

Question 35

David Willardson

Answer 35

• Willardson is now “in the pantheon” of the great animation artists of history. Willardson is the creative force of the “pep art movement,” an innovative new genre where cultural icons are rendered with an unprecedented fusion of color, personality, and energy.
• Willardson worked for Disney for 17 years. He was one of the few artists that was actually sought after and approached by Disney. Furthermore, Willardson is one of only a few who are licensed to use Disney imagery in the world.
• Willardson created the logos for “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “American Graffiti.” This is what attracted Disney to Willardson. Disney commissioned Willardson to redesign their movie posters and promotional illustrations for the re-release of the classic films in the 1980’s. Willardson created movie posters for “Bambi,” “Pinocchio,” “Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Lion King.”

Question 36

Tim Yanke

Answer 36

• A local artist and native to the Detroit metro-area, Tim’s work is not easily missed: he was commissioned in 2010 to create the signature work for The Henry. It is a colossal work of art – his largest ever – that now permanently resides behind the front desk in the lobby of the hotel.
• Influenced by De Kooning, Motherwell and Pollock, Tim has no pre-conception when he works and develops his imagery spontaneously.
• Tim has a passion for Native Americans, the Southwest USA, and rock and roll. He blares music in his former garage-turned-studio while he works, typically works very quickly with an incredible array of media, and will frequently incorporate song lyrics or random thoughts into his works. He focuses on bright color palettes to attract the viewer and impact a pleasing visual effect to his highly energetic imagery.