Salvador Dali, Surrealist Painter

-known for bizarre images
-highly imaginative
-shot many strange videos

Claude Debussy, French Impressionist Composer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir8snfWIU2M


Claude Debussy has a very distinct impressionist style. Even when I'm not sure of the artist when I hear a Debussy composition I can often take a good guess.

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pianist

Sergei Rachmaninoff is a romantic piano composer known for his, solemn, powerful songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtuMVBLEWJU

Prelude in C Sharp Minor- Rachmaninoff earned the nickname "Mr. C Sharp Minor" because of this composition much to his unliking.

David Hammons

-Mostly known for his works in and around New York in the 70's.
-Much of his work, including Spade with Chains (1973), reflects his commitment to the civil rights and Black Power movements.

Sanford Biggers

-interdisciplinary artist who works in film/video, installation, sculpture, music, and performance.
-Biggers's art frequently references African American ethnography
-Biggers is Affiliate Faculty at the VCU Sculpture and Expanded Media program and was a visiting scholar at Harvard's VES Department in 2009.

Cheri Samba, Congolese painter

His paintings almost always include text in French and Lingala, commenting on life in Africa and the modern world. Chéri Samba lives in Kishasha and Paris.

Fight Against Mosquitoes (Mosquitoes refers to Malara in many French-speaking countries of Africa) This painting was also in the Anderson Gallery.

Nnenna Okore

• inspiration stems from childhood at Nsukka, small university town in southeastern Nigeria.

• was fascinated by the social, natural, and man-made conditions in rural dwellings around the campus.

• works celebrate the transformation of discarded objects into cultural objects.

Trash bags, This particular work is was on display at the Anderson Gallery here at VCU.

Bill Woodrow, Sculptor

-Late 70's, Early 80's Major works.

-Transformer, manipulator of garbage items.

-Creates creatures and images from objects, but he shows from where they come.

Crow Eating Something, Umbrella

Tom Friedman

-monumental ideas in objects

-makes objects exclusively by himself.

-went into his studio, emptied it out, painted all the walls white.

-created a void.

-Go into the studio with single objects and meditate with them until he came up with what to do.

-Into self portraits.

Self-Splattered Portrait, Construction Paper

                                                     Spiral in a Bar of Soap, Pubic Hair Inside Spiral

Tara Donovan, Sculptor, VCU Alumni

- Takes very simple, mundane objects and meditates on the single materials until she comes up with a solution- repurposing them.

-Ends up recreating natural occurences, phenomena.

-Her manipulation of materials is very simple. Putting them in a simple context, a new position that transforms them.

-Has a crew that helps her with most work.

-VCU Alumni

A sculpture made of buttons.

William Rush, 18th Century

Bust of Benjamin Franklin, c. 1800

Winter, 1810, Pine

Emily Carr, Canadian, Post Impessionist.

Odds and Ends

Britanny, France

Eugene Delacroix, Romantic French Artist

A Mad Woman, 1822, Oil on Canvas.

Horse Frightened by a Storm, 1824, Watercolor.

Robert Morris, Minimalist Artist

Jacob Epstein

American-born British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British citizen in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged taboos on what was appropriate subject matter for public artworks. He also made paintings and drawings, and often exhibited his work.

Georgia O'Keefe

Poppies

-The color is really vibrant. It almost looks like a photograph.

Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon's Coronation
- This picture is absolutely huge. I had the pleasure of seeing this work as well at the Louvre when I was in Paris.

Henri Matisse

Le Bonheur De Vivre

- I was in France this Summer  and had a chance to see some of Matisse's work in person at the Museum D'Orsay. It was amazing!

Pablo Picasso

Les Demoiselles D'Avignon.

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin is one of my favorite composers for the piano. He is celebrated in Poland and throughout the world for his lovely compositions which evoke strong emotions. The 'Funeral March,' for example, is often compared to a funeral not because of it's name, but rather because its solemn, dirge, and morbid tone. Here's a link to this particular composition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFyAqLtHq8