Jim Warren

Jim Warren has paintings that remind you of a coloring crayon box that exploded. His work is just completely beautiful and the colors are fantastic. You can tell he gets inspiration from landscapes and the human form, since his photography has a lot to do with human bodies and faces being depicted within some sort of landscape. The colors are what really stands out. It is almost Lisa Frank like with the colors he uses, most children would be drawn to his work just based on the fact that it is so brightly colored and magnificent.

Yoko Ono

Yes- she is blamed for making the Beatles split up. True she is one of the more annoying artists of anything out there. Did anyone think that maybe she is actually good though? Yoko Ono, as hyped up as she is by her name, is actually quite underrated. She needs no introduction really, because she was in love with the most influential man in music, and she played her role well. She has done everything. She sings, sculpts, paints, and so much more. She has kept going even though there is a certain stigma about her name, especially since she has been called "the woman who broke up the Beatles" Her talent may be overshadowed by this, but in reality I believe this is what makes her great. She became the scape goat for Beatles fans to blame, but took it with stride. Even though she is Mrs. Lennon, she has overcome what has happened- made something more of herself, and become who she is today.

Richard Zoland

An impressionist who's paintings have gone fairly unnoticed is Richard Zoland. He was an artist whose art grew purely out of his inspiration and his talent. His inspirations included his day to day life and nature. Significant exhibitions include the Metropolitan Galleries in Osaka, Japan, the World Trade Center, 
Cape Cod Art Association, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, 
and his private gallery, Zolan’s On The Avenue in Palm Desert, California. He was once described as the 
man who was America. He build up new ideas from old traditions. He never let the work become more than
what it was. Never making it too big of a deal, or toning it down to mute it either.

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was a predominantly a landscape photographer, but not in the sense that a lot of people think. He took pictures of beautiful places or interesting places in the world, not just going around taking pictures of houses from a plane. You know the type I'm talking about- They come to your house with a giant picture of your home, attempting to sell it to you because it is an arial photograph of your home. No- this isn't Ansel. He started off as a musician- playing piano was predominantly his passion. The started transforming from a pianist to a photographer over a few years, and then his star really began to shine in the 1930s. He traveled the world seeking new and eccentric places to photograph. He was always searching for a bit more. He was an activist for the environment, and rallied and traveled in support for natural preserves and conservation efforts.

Though his love was the forest and the environment, his passion was photography. Mixing the two was only second nature, and a completely perfect combination.

Louise Bourgeouis

Louise Bourgeouis had a very rough start in her Art career. When she was 21 her mother died, and at the time Louise was studying Math, but this inspired her to study Art. Her father thought that art was a waste and wouldn't help her further her education. In her work you can see where her inspiration came from. She had references to her past like her childhood. This gives the world a constant insight to the way she was raised and what kind of experiences she had as a child. During the middle stages of her career (despite being celebrated for her contributions to the art community) she was seemingly unpopular, and received very little attention from artists everywhere.

Louise liked to take what made people uncomfortable, and turn it into art. In much of her work you see the human figure dismantled or awkwardly placed in a situation, often times it is disfigured as well. Her art was quite frequently about the human form, but also about emotions such as fear and disgust. An artist who can get this much emotion out of people just by a piece of art, is by far a great artist.

Robert Hughes Film-

I chose to analyze Jeff Koonz, because I enjoy how much everyone loves to hate him.
The piece "Puppy" is an excellent piece to look at for this.


1. How does the artist utilize material/media/found object in an art historical context, versus a contemporary context?
Koonz piece is made out of something you can find outside practically every spring. Flowers and dirt. The simplicity of this piece is awesome, and the fact that dirt and flowers are normally found outside really makes this piece work from a historical stand point.2. How do these materials inform the meaning of the piece?
The materials are super organic, outside of the metal frame work used to hold it up. The materials literally hare dirt and flowers. It makes the piece simple, yet complex at the same time. It is a massive piece of topiary, which the colors make complicated.3. What site was chosen for the artwork?
The original site for "Puppy" was in Germany, and in 2000 it did a brief exhibition in Rockefeller center where the massive christmas tree usually sits. 4. How does the site/place inform the meaning of the artwork?
The site has changed several times for this piece, which I believe each individual site brings something else to the table. In Rockefeller center, I think that the site helped show how the busy city needs to come down to more simple things, like a giant dog.

Alma Gomez

Alma Gomez is my art 109 drawing foundations teacher. For such a talented woman, she is very humble and close to her roots. She has done exhibitions all across Idaho, Utah and Nevada, and also does art work for Boise State as well. Several of her pieces reside in the student union building at BSU, as well as over in the Education building, and I believe one in the Morrison center.

A lot of her work has a spanish feel to it. Usually portraying people of Latin American heritage in them, or titled something in spanish. Most of the men are dark haired, leaving that spanish or latin feel, as many europeans are blond. You can tell she draws a lot of inspiration from her roots, as she incorporates her Latin roots into her paintings. Her still life pictures are often times non representational, or they have no real cultural feel to them. They are done by Alma, but she does not always incorporate her heritage into her pieces.

I had a hard time getting pictures of her work for my blog, as most of them are copyrighted and I am not allowed to paste them here. Bummer- I know.
But this is Alma herself-