Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse is an example of a modern artist who was the chief of a wild new trend called Fauvism. He was called the wild beast because of his wild art. His art did not contain any political issues or depressing subject matter, instead he focused on the the body and beautiful calming elements. One example of his work is called The Joy of Life, a painting full of nude figures lying on grass in a peaceful forest and emits a harmonious effect by using bright colors. Another art example is Open Window, where it portrays an open window and shows the outside world and gives off a calming and luminous effect. He used intense colors and complementary colors in this painting which gave it volume and depth. He was a versatile artist who worked with sculptures, architecture, book illustrations, and découpage. He used cut up paper to prepare for his canvases and would use cut up painting paper, organized them and made them into a mural when he was disabled in his later years.

Jackson Pollock is a leader of postmodern art and the most important artist of the 1960s. His work started to change into a more mature, figureless, spontaneous style and people were not open minded about it. He didn’t fear pushing boundaries and some critics would say that his paintings didn’t have a beginning or an end. His expressionist abstract paintings were the result of a drip technique and some good examples of his works are called Number 1 and Number 5. He put a large canvas on the floor and painted it without touching it, making the paint drip from the brush and used controlled movements to spread the paint layer after layer and many different colors. This style of art was given the term action painting because he was using hand gestures in his work and had no composition or a focal point. When he painted, he got lost in the act, there was harmony, and gave it life. He dealt with alcoholism during his lifetime and died in a drunk driving accident.

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist who is inspired by otaku, a term for people who are obsessed with particular interests such as anime and video games. He is known for creating the style Super Flat, which is the flatness and two dimensional perspective found in Japanese art. His work is sweet and cheerful, yet aggressive and weird such as Tan Tan Bo Puking, a big mushroom head with many eyes. When you look at this painting, you see a cartoon like figure that seems innocent, but when you pay attention to details, there are many bulging eyes and grizzly teeth. The center resembles the atomic bomb which destroyed Nagasaki, his work makes us want to read between the lines. A similar type of work called Army of Mushrooms has a bunch of colorful mushrooms with multiple eyes on each mushroom. He is known to create psychedelic, popular culture content with a variety of colors.

Henri, Jackson, and Takashi have a lot of differences in their work. Henri paints nude figures especially attractive women and interior settings, Jackson painted over a canvas by letting paint drip and had no composition or focal points, he let his hand take over. Takashi