Week #37 ('20) Art Appreciation
Welcome to my weekly Art Appreciation post, where I provide a list of some amazing album covers, single art, and random art that have come out within the past week. I’ll give you the artist/photographer/painter/magician’s name, as well as any social media or websites where you can go and check out more of their work. Click here to go back and see some other Art Appreciation posts.
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We have two pieces here that demonstrate a concept of two extremes: where is the observer directed whenever they are looking at a piece? Yes, very much like CRIMEAPPLE’s exquisite bars, visual art like paintings and illustrations can have flow too, and it’s an important part of structuring an image. Some images are DIY with the flow, where you can start anywhere and sort of work your way around to everything around it at your own pace (think back to moodzanzan’s piece they did for Internet Money in Week #35 (’20)). Other pieces have a specific vision, leading you from one point to another through the use of lines and coloring. Take note of how these two artists approach flow in their pieces, and whenever you go out into the world to look at art yourselves, be conscious of where your eyes gravitate to: oftentimes, it’s intentional.
Remember, use this post to follow and subscribe to these artists; they deserve as much recognition as the musicians they are attached to.
Artist(s): Bernard Rollins
If I Don’t See You In Paradise, by CRIMEAPPLE
Remember what I said about flow? Bernard Rollins doesn’t, because his piece is spread out over the whole canvas, a maze with multiple starting points and multiple endings. It’s entirely through the use of color that he does this, juxtaposing bright greens, reds, and browns against black and white landscapes. The image is so colorful and dense that it’s possible (like it was for me) to completely miss the Rainbow Macaws on the left side, drops of color in the bucket in comparison to the variety found in the rest of the piece. The lack of flow is not at all a negative here, because the spectacle of the “paradise” he’s created here is entertaining and vibrant enough to capture the attention, a happy and relaxed image. In a lot of ways it reminds me of old postcards, like one you’d get from your Grandpa on vacation in Fiji, and you’re like “damn that old bastard really chose the one with titties on it”. Make sure you check out some of Bernard’s other work that I’m sure you’ll recognize: he did Elcamino’s Walk on Water, Roc Marciano’s Marcielago, and, a legendary cover for sure, WestsideDOOM,s iconic Metalfaced-Flygod.
Bernard's Instagram/Bernard’s Twitter
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Artist(s): Huey P.
Progression, by G4 JAG & Mephux
Before we get into the colors and whatnot here, let’s go over the amazing way that the aforementioned flow plays into this image. If you’re like most people, your eyes are going to one place first: the face. The search for something human and familiar is an innate trait in most people as observers, and you’ll gravitate towards something that you can relate to more often than not. From there, you are going to follow Caesar’s gaze and end up with the knives. But wait, your journey isn’t over, because where are the knives going? Well besides the obvious common sense of “these are going into this dudes chest expeditiously”, we’re actually given the information visually too, through the use of direction of the lines that make up the knives themselves. These lines too have a point, leading us to the chest where the knives will soon be. It may seem simple when explaining, but being able represent this kind of flow in a static image like this is an old and honed skill in art and deserves attention. Personally, this image hits it out of the park with the great colors (look at TSDK, I like reds and yellows ok?), and the Russian text which translates to “Fly Family” (again, a sucker for Russian culture). A strong visual statement, but I’d expect nothing less from a master in this field like Huey P. is.
Huey P.’s Instagram/Huey P.’s Website
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