Things, things, do there have to be a thing everyday? No, but most days there is, there is no reason for it, that’s reason enough… Today, there is no reason what-so-ever to feature three of my favourite artists…

ORGAN THING OF THE DAY – Three favourite artists…

Two American contemporary artists who’ve both come up through the so-called street art scene today.  Shepard Fairey and Logan Hicks

And a Welsh painter who really should be celebrated. .

Shepard has just announced a rather striking Al Weiwei print, while Logan has just completed a New York show called Love Never Saved anything….

“I admire Ai Weiwei for his #art and his #activism. His art is beautiful in form, and in function embodies the principles of populism and social consciousness I aspire to in my own practice. This poster is a tribute to Ai Weiwei’s art, his courage to be outspoken, and in support of his ongoing political struggle with the Chinese government. I hope the image will help raise awareness and advance dialogue that might lead to permission for Ai Weiwei to travel freely and continue to express himself.  – Shepard

Check out more about the support of Ai Weiwei in collaboration with Friends of Ai Weiwei  in the Los Angeles Times  The Ai Weiwei print will be printed in a limited edition of 375; the artist is donating 100 posters to the Brooklyn Museum, which will present an Ai Weiwei retrospective exhibition “Ai Weiwei: According to What?” from April 18 through August 10, 2014 .

SHEPARD FAIREY: www.OBEYGIANT.com

 

At the time of his death in 2007, Welsh artist Peter Prendergast was regarded as one of Britain’s foremost landscape painters. His bold, exciting expressionist work, his energy, and unforgiving commitment to his art made him a painter that really did (and still does) matter.  Prendergast is best-known for his large expressionist paintings of the old quarrying districts of north-west Wales, paintings executed with bold colourful brushstrokes, Works that captured the rapidly changing light and vivid energy of a landscape that very rarely remains still, paintings made by a man who rarely stayed still, well at least when he was anywhere near an easel. I speak from experience. having been privileged enough to be in same room and ducked his sliced pieces of pencil on quite a few occasions.

“Even in New York he drew on his experiences of Bethesda. In 1993, given the use of a 31st-floor apartment on West 53rd Street by his London dealers, Agnew’s, he drew the view looking towards the Hudson river as if it were a canyon, like the Penrhyn quarry, except that what concerned him now was the bustle of Manhattan. He would get up in the early hours and observe the yellow cabs hurtling up the street, trying to get something of the city’s energy into his paintings”.

PETER PRENDERGAST OBITUARY

 

 

LOGAN HICKS is widely acknowledged as on one the most meticulous stencil artists working today. It isn’t all about technique though,  Logan is about subtle atmosphere, a captured time – a place, a person, a feeling, a tunnel, a train carriage, a street  – capturing the now, the dynamic.  “He creates intricate multi-layered stencils and uses aerosol spray to build the image. The labour-intensive process sometimes involves as many as 15 different stencil layers and can take up to a month to complete each work”.  Logan has just completed a New York show called Love Never Saved anything, he uploaded a video of the show earlier today…….

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A selection of work from Peter Prendergast, Logan Hicks and Shepard Fairey, click on an image to enlarge it…

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