Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Although wildly popular today and considered one of the greatest Dutch painters of his time, Van Gogh was unknown and very poor during his life. He lived and painted in the late 1850's in the Netherlands. He was a post-impressionist painter who greatly influenced 20th century art. He struggled with mental illness, but some say that made his art even better. Van Gogh killed himself in 1890 at age 37. 

KEITH HARING

Keith Haring was an American artist and activist. He began his artworks on the streets in New York, getting noticed in the subways or the city. Unfortunately, he was also noticed by officials and was arrested on multiple occasions for vandalism. As he became more popular, his works were put into various clubs and restaurants before being displayed in museums so and exhibits around the world. He collaborated with many artists, such as Andy Worhol and Grace Jones. His art has a street-art energy behind it, but he is most popularly known for his figure drawings of characters without details. His pieces brought awareness of AIDS and he was diagnosed with this in 1988 and died 2 years later. Although he was only 31 when he passed, his art was very influential and still is today.

Something that pisses me off

SHARK HUNTING

Sharks, aside from being incredible animals, are a vital part of the ocean's ecosystem. Many species of sharks are at the top of the food chain, and therefore control how all other animals exist in the ocean. Sharks prevent their prey from over-grazing and balance the entire ecosystem. Sharks are being hunted and killed faster than they can recover their population for reasons as trivial as a shark tooth necklace or shark fin soup. The practice of shark hunting is a gross misuse of the power people have over animals and really, really pisses me off. 

To portray this in an art piece, I have an image in my head of a gleaming and majestic great white swimming alone in water tainted with blood and surrounded by fishhooks with the bottom of a boat at the type. And maybe a net in the water. I would do this with either oil pastel or watercolor pencils.