Stephen Weeks 13 G         Art Essay A2        

As this is a ‘personal study’ I thought to begin I would give a quick insight into the reasoning behind me studying the two different art forms, as an artists I obviously have some passion for the Arts and find fascinating the variety and skill of art in the world, from pop artists such as Andy Warhol to the great surrealist Salvador Dali, (a personal idol of mine).

I love exploring the art forms and trying as many mediums and techniques as available, if time would permit I would love to compare and contrast a endless array of great artists, like the mind boggling and revolutionary cubist work of Piccasso showing multiple emotions and sides of a person in one piece , the bold and beautiful modern art of Lichenstein showing the world in his own unmistakeable way, the awe inspriring work of Cezanne and countless other artists who have made this area of our culture a fascination of mine and undoubtedly masses of people throughout the world in all times.

But as time isn’t infinite and the list of amazing artists could take me to a ripe old age I have concentrated on two artists, neither the Monet’s or Da Vinchi’s of the art world, but who’s work has caught my imagination and gave me a urge to learn there ways and the way of their work.

The first artist I am studying, as mentioned in my introduction, is my uncle Kevin Phillips a Durham born artist who produces abstract pieces that capture the pure essence of the beauty of our world and feed it to us slowly through a blend of landscapes and amazing colour all at the control of intense colours and a brushstroke.

His work would be seen as an established art medium, done by many artists before him. Abstract arts is a form that is deeply linked to art and is a popular medium that allows artists to explore different perceptions of things produces in a way that may not be totally true to life but show great meaning through colours or objects. In the past I have worked a little into abstract, but more surrealist, and have never attempted to produce a landscape abstract piece like Kevin does of areas of importance in his life (like his hometown). And  as I am studying Kevin Phillips’ style I feel I should experience his art first hand and try to understand what draws him to mimic such amazing sights of nature and the world into incredibly colourful pieces of work and get a insight into why he has so much passion for abstract work.

My interview with Kevin Phillips was successful and conducted by email and a visit to Durham to see some of his work. From the interview I feel I have a little more information to help me break down Kevin as an artist in order to compare with my other artist. Each answer of the interview has been researched including influences, techniques, etc.

My second artist Nancy Wilson is also a British born artist I came across whilst searching the internet, she is not similar to Kevin in many ways, be it art, influences or her past.

 Nancy Wilson Is a fantasy artist, producing amazingly colourful, imaginative and original pieces of work intended to calm the soul and give a relaxed look into a whole other world.

Nancy is a previous British body building champion who has pushed her body and soul to its very limits to achieve what seems physically impossible to most. Whilst also combating M.E, a condition which could slow her work, she manages to produce images that radiate spirit and energy. This has given her a varied outlook on life and a eye into fantasy and original work that is created from pure feeling and emotion, as I looked through each piece I could imagine her spawning these fantasy images in her head and bringing myself to wonder where it comes from, I mean, this isn’t art that creeps into my head when I try and think of my next piece. Nancy draws, in my mind, something very special out of herself to create this art, using many different mediums and imagination, varying to see which captures her vision the best. She needs no natural beauty to inspire like Kevin, she has endless magical and mystical landscapes, beasts, beautiful creatures, dark beings and hundreds more unimaginable images to myself just waiting to be seeped out through the fingers and soul of Nancy to capture the imagination of myself and I am sure many others who have come across her amazing images.

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I conducted a interview with Nancy asking her the same questions as Kevin to compare there responses. The interview went well and I have sufficient information to analyse Nancy better and get a better understanding of her work.

I haven’t tried work of Nancy’s kind before, the closest thing being surreal work I have done drawing influence from Dali. I will be interested to see how my imagination flows when doing work in Nancy’s style and am sure I will enjoy the free nature of her work, having little constraint of perfectionism which I feel is a plague of myself ...

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