Richard Hamilton 

Richard Hamilton was an English painter and collage artist. He was born on February 24, 1922 but died on September 13, 2011. His work is considered to have been amongst the earliest works of pop art.

Richard's piece, 'Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?' (image below) is one of his famous collages from 1956. The collage displays a muscular man holding a Tootsie Pop, a woman with large, bare breasts wearing a lampshade as a hat, vacuum cleaner, tinned ham, Television set, and tape recorder. All the things present in this piece seemed to have been things that were seen as a must have or that people really wanted in their homes during the time the artwork was created. This piece is said to have been the first work of pop art to have achieved iconic status. This piece is iconic because Richard Hamilton uses popular images to explore how the everyday life at that time was changing rapidly. This piece was created during a time where people were heavily getting into the style of mall shopping, watching television and driving cars. This piece to my understanding is also a symbol of leisure.

The collage suggests that the 50's was a time period where Britain was becoming increasingly influenced by the Americans. British households were now in a way being forced to imitate what the American households that were being shown in magazines and films so the fascination of technology is clear in Richard's work because that was what was going on at the time. After the Second World War, some British households were looking for a new way to live so this piece which contained the typical image of an American living space in a way acted as an advertisement to help those looking for a new way of living an idea of what they could go for.

Ben Eine (Ben Flynn) 

Ben Flynn is a street artist who is based in London, England. He was born on August 23, 1970. Ben is famously known for his alphabet lettering on shop shutters in London. He hasn't just allowed his talent to flourish in London but he has also taken his lettering to the streets of Paris, Stockholm, Hastings, and Newcastle upon Tyne. Ben also, in his commercial work, has produced lettering styles such as, 'Shutter', 'Circus', 'Neon','Elton', 'Vandalism', and 'Wendy'.

Barack Obama is also familiar with Ben's art work as he was presented with a painting of a complete alphabet (image below). this was an official gift from the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. 


Ben's lettering often features in magazines and promotional materials. His work was used by a pop group called 'Alphabeat' and features in Duffy's music videos for "Stepping Stone" and also, briefly, in Snow Patrol's video for "Take Back the City".

In my opinion his typography is quite appealing due to the use of blending and the use of bright colours. He also doesn't make his typography one shade of a colour, he tends to make the colour fade out which makes the letter stand out more so I think its a very creative way of using colour in his prints.

The Fourth Plinth 

The Fourth Plinth is a plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London. The Fourth Plinth usually displays temporary artworks rather than a permanent figure or idea but this hasn't always been the case; The fourth Plinth was originally intended to hold a statue of William IV, but this could not be done due to insufficient funds. The future of the fourth plinth was debated for 150 years.

There is a plinth at each corner of the square. The two plinths in the south of the square carry sculptures of Henry Havelock and Charles James Napier. The larger plinths are based in the north side of the square and this is because they were designed to have equestrian statue and one of the northern plinths carries a statue of George IV. 

The Fourth Plinth Project was from 1999-2001 which allowed three contemporary artists to occupy the space; These were: 

Mark Wallinger with his statue called, 'Ecce Homo' (image on the left), this statue was a life-sized figure of Christ which was naked apart from a cloth around his lower half of his body, his hands behind his back, and a crown of barbed wire to represent the crown of thorns. This statue was present in 1999









Bill Woodrow with his piece which was called, 'Regardless of History' (image on the right). This piece displays a severed head crushed between a book and the roots of a tree. This piece was present during 2000.








Rachel Whiteread with her piece which was called, 'Monument' (image on the left). This piece was a cast of the plinth in transparent resin which was placed upside-down on top of the original plinth. This piece was present during 2001.




The Fourth Plinth Project was seen to be a success so therefore, after several years of being empty, the fourth plinth was in the hands of the Greater London Authority who took responsibility for Trafalgar square and the Fourth Plinth. The Fourth Plinth is now commissioned by the Mayor of London's Culture team who are under the guidance of a group which is made up of specialist advisers who guide and monitor the commissions for the plinth.

The following art works have been displayed on the Fourth Plinth since 2005 till the present day: 




Marc Quinn with a statue called 'Alison Lapper Pregenant' (image on the left). This statue is a statue of a woman called Alison Lapper, an artist who was born with no arms and shortened legs due to Phocomelia, the woman is clearly nude. This statue was present during 2005.








Thomas Schutte with his piece called, 'Model for a Hotel 2007' (image on the right). This piece presents and architectural model of a 21-storey building made from coloured glass. This piece was present during 2007.









Antony Gormley with his piece called, 'One & Other' (image on the left). This piece allowed 2,400 selected members of the public, over the course of 100 consecutive days, to spend an hour on the plinth. The members of the public were allowed to do anything they wanted to do. This piece was in place during 2009. 




Yinka Shonibare with his piece called, 'Nelson's Ship in a Bottle' (image on the right).  This piece consists of a replica of Nelson's ship but is within a bottle that is sealed with a cork. The sails are made of printed fabric in a colourful African pattern. This piece was present during 2010. 








Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset with their sculpture called, 'Powerless Structure, Fig. 101' (image on the left). This sculpture displayed a tall bronze sculpture of a boy on rocking horse. this statue was present during 2012. 








Katharina Fritsch with her statue called, 'Hahn/Cock'  (image on the right).  This sculpture shows a large blue cockerel or rooster. This sculpture was present during 2013.






All of the pieces that are displayed above have been all the art works that have been on the fourth plinth so far and already there have been pieces that are ready to be displayed for the future. Pieces such as:





Hans Haacke with his sculpture called, 'Gift Horse' (image on the left).  This sculpture is going to be of a skeletal, riderless horse. This sculpture will be present in 2015.









David Shirgley with his sculpture called, 'Really Good' (image on the right). This sculpture will be a bronze representative of a human hand in a thumbs-up gesture. The thumb is going to greatly elongated. This sculpture is planned to be up in 2016.






Personally I can't wait to see these sculptures on the Fourth plinth so it's something I will be looking forward to.

Michael Craig-Martin

Michael Craig-Martin is a contemporary conceptual artist and painter was born on August 28, 1941. He is well known for his conceptual artwork. He is also a Emeritus
Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmiths. 

Micheal grew up in Dublin where he was born and during his early years of life, he grew up with a religious education in a Roman Catholic school run by nuns. One of the priests in the school was an artist and this is where Michael gained an interest in art.

Examples of Michael's works:



One of Michael's famous work called 'An Oak Tree' (image on the left) consists of a glass of water standing on a small glass shelf which is attached to the wall above head height. Next to the piece is text which displays questions and answers which tries to claim that the glass of water has been transformed into an oak tree. 

In my opinion, without the the text to go with the piece which displays almost an argument when the question and answering is taking place, the piece would just be a glass of water on a shelf but due to the artists' justification and explanation of how the glass of water is an oak tree, I am able to understand why he claims the piece is an oak tree. 

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele was an Austrian painter who was born on June 12, 1890 but died on October 31, 1918. With Egon being a protégé of Gustav Klimt, he is said to have been a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. 

Egon's work is well known for its intensity and many of his self-portraits portrayed this (works which included naked self-portraits). The characteristics that were in Egons's works such as, the twisted body shapes and the expressive lines allowed him to be seen as a representative of Expressionism.

Egon's passion for drawing started early on within his life, around when he was 11. He started off drawing trains due to the fatct that he was very intrigued by them. Also, its said that when he was young, he showed incestuous tendencies towards his younger sister which added to the list of reasons that people had to look at him strangely.

World War 1 was a time period that also affected the way Egon's works turned out. During the war, Egon was appointed to escort Russian prisoners and was eventually given a job as a clerk where he took this opportunity to draw and paint imprisoned Russian officers and his commander.During the war, Egon's paintings became larger and more detailed. Egon's final works included a few sketches of Edith (his wife); His later works also included portraits of his wife before she fell ill and while she was dying.

Examples of Egon's nude works:




Female nudes seemed to be Egon's main output and from 1915, his female nudes appeared to have become fuller in figure but a lot of them were purposely drawn or painted with a doll-like appearance. Some of these nudes can also be seen in masturbatory poses.

Some people view Egon's work as erotic, pornographic, perverted, or disturbing but I applaud this artist because he was able to continue his work and not care about the opinion of others. This allowed the artist to show his full potential by drawing and painting what he loved the most, which seemed to have been nude women. His works were not only of nude women, he also painted and drew nude couples and portraits of others as well as himself which helped him contradict the ideas of the critiques.

De Stijl

De Stijl was a Dutch artistic movement which was founded  in 1917 by two abstract artists, Piet Mondrian and Theo van Deosburg, in Amsterdam. De Stijl is Dutch and in English stands for, "The Style". The De Stijl movement is said to have consisted of artists and architects. 

Most works that are in the style of De Stijl or influenced by De Stijl will commonly display the use of pure abstraction which displays black vertical and horizontal lines, and the use of only primary colours and black and white.

De Stijl has influenced many areas the world and basic human life (as shown in the images below) and is still influencing art till this day.

De Stijl art is very geometric and can also be said that cubist painting is a major influence in the works. This art movement has influenced the Bauhaus, the international style and also music.

Example of De Stijl works:








Furniture Design: Red and Blue Chair designed by Gerrit Reitveld in 1917. 
















Architecture: The Reitveld Dchroder House which was the only building to have been completed using the principles of De Stijl.






In my opinion these 2 designs best represent the De Stijl movement due to the fact that they both use the main elements and principles of the movement which are simple rectangles and squares, a range of horizontal and vertical lines, and the use of the primary colours.

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was Dutch painter who is said to be a major post-impressionist. He was born on March 30 1835 but died on 29 July 1890. Van Gogh is said to have had a history of mental illnesses and painful anxiety which was probably the reason he decided to take his own life as it is said that he died from a gunshot wound although no gun was ever found. Van Gogh's father was a minister and his family was very religious and this highly influenced his work as observers realised.

Van Gogh's work is highly praised due to the fact that because his work portrayed rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold colours, it was able to easily influence the 20th century art. 

Van Gogh's piece, "The Potato Eaters", is an oil painting which was painted on a canvas (image on the left). This piece is said to be Van Gogh's first great art work. It is said that Van Gogh painted this piece because he didn't want to paint figures that appeared to be awkward but he wanted to paint figures to exist naturally. This piece consisted of the De Groot family, they are all sitting at a square table eating potatoes; four of the people are woman and one of them is male. In my opinion this piece has been painted with such intensity that you can almost hear the conversation that is going on in the room and what I noticed with this piece is that the way it has been painted allows a viewer to notice the minor details within the piece and not only concentrate on he characters within the piece.

Van Gogh was influenced by art movements such as Post-impressionism and Impressionism and he was influenced by artist such as Pissaro, Monet, Bernard, and was greatly influenced by his close friend Gauguin.

Man Ray 

Man Ray was an american visual artist who spent most of his career in France. He was born in August 27 1980 but died in November 18 1976. Although he considers himself as a painter, he used to work with various media and is said to be a major contributor to Dada and Surrealist movements. Although being a painter, Man ray was more famously known for his photography due to his outstanding fashion an portrait photography. He is also known for his work with "Rayographs" which is formally known as Photograms.







This is an example of Man Ray's rayographs (image on the left) which displays thumb tacks, a coil of wire and other circular shapes. His rayographs were made without a camera by placing the objects on a sheet of photosensitised paper and exposing it to light. These photograms allowed Man Ray to be considered to be as good as the avant-garde painters of him time.

To make a photogram, the most essential thing needed is for the process to be taken place in a darkroom, then the objects are to be arranged  on a photographic paper. Once the arrangement of the objects is completed, the paper is then exposed to light and this is usually done using an enlarger but can also be done using another artificial light source. The photographic paper is then processed, washed and dried. The final result would usually be a negative shadow image that shows variations in tone that depends on the transparency of the objects used. The parts of the paper that have  received no light what so ever appear white. 

Within my project I have been required to attempt to make various Photograms. Following the procedure, I start off using a test strip of photographic paper to  determine how long to expose the paper to light for, in order to get the best result. When that is determined, I expose the paper and follow to the procure till the drying process to end with my final result. 

Kazimir Malevich 

Kazimir Malevich was a Russian art theoretician but was famously known for being a painter. He was born on February, 23, 1879 but died on May, 15, 1935. He is said to be a pioneer of the geometric abstract art and the originator of the avant-garde and suprematist movements.

During 1912, Malevich's works were influenced by Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov. At that time, Malevich described himself as painting in a "Cubo-Futuristic" style.

Famous examples of Malevich's Suprematist works include: 

Black square

White on White

Malevich's composition, White on White, was painted in 1918 using oil on canvas. This piece needs to be viewed long enough to notice the contrast between the white hues. There isn't really much to say about  the piece in my opinion.

Sadly Malevich died on 15 May 1935 because he had cancer. On his deathbed Malevich is said to have been exhibited with the black square above him. A white cube with a black square was made to mark the burial site but it was destroyed during World War II.

My Malevich inspired pieces:

Here are 2 images (image above and below) that I created using Photoshop that were inspired by Malevich. I have done more pieces but these two are just examples of what I've done. with the first piece (image above) I chose to put 3 black squares on a white background and then I put a smaller white square on top of the smallest black square to make the small black square look bigger than in actually was, like an illusion. With the second piece (image below) I wasn't necessarily trying to achieve anything, I was merely just experimenting with the black squares, as I was with all my other pieces but this was an initial piece that I started with.

Painting of an old man by Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter whose birth date is not provided but birth year was around 1431 and is said to have died in September 13 1506. Mantegna was an artist who experimented with perspective and was 

very successful in that element of art. 

Mantegna's piece the "Lamentation of Christ" (image on the left) in my opinion is his best painting which portrays perspective. The piece displays the body of Christ on a marble slap. The notable people who seem to be weeping for his death are the Virgin Mary and Saint John. This painting initially looks like it portrays an exact perspective of the figure of the marble slab. However, it is said that careful scrutiny has revealed that Mantegna reduced to size of the figures feet because if this was not done, the feet would have covered most of the body, especially the thorax which seems to be the main part of the body that creates most of the foreshortened look.