I had given up on paintings in the late 90’s tired of what I was looking at in the Western world. In the summer of 1999 my eyes were delighted to see a group of young Chinese artists shown in London. God they really could paint and there was humor, new ideas and new techniques. It was that moment in time all art lovers dream of. The artists were talented, courageous (artists were being put in jail, still are) but there was this unstoppable momentum. The artists were humble and hard working. Prices were where prices for young artists should be and the opinions of the chattering art world had not started. So I bought them and you can still buy them.
Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun, Wu Yiming, Qiu Shihua, Liu Ye, Fang Lijun, Ma Liuming, Zhou Tiehai, Guo Jin, Zeng Fanzhi. Of course there was more but these were available to buy, and that was ten years ago. There were four galleries in China! Now they are sold and in various galleries around the world.
So I waited for my western artists to break out and then the energy started again. All disciplines need innovation and each of these artists have somehow pushed the boundaries in painting sometimes mixing with new media sometimes not. I promise you they are all deep thinking, which an artist needs along with creating that magic that touches the heart.
ESTABLISHED PAINTERS
Adrian Ghenie, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, Paula Rego, Anselm Kiefer, Stephan Conroy, Lisa Yuskavage, and Billy Childish who along with Charles Thomson started “Stuckism” a movement pro painting that has spread from a few artists to over 125 groups around the world, and influenced the Charles Saatchi exhibition entitled “Triumph of Painting”. I personally think there has been a huge promotion of other mediums on the public. Photography, computer art, installations, video art etc. Nothing wrong with that but painting is a demanding medium and the artist while creating bares his soul to you and you can be truly touched. It’s in our DNA from the caves of old till now.
EMERGING YOUNG PAINTERS
Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Karin Felder, Dimitri Horta, Damien Meade, Andrew Saigado, Miguel Laino, Geoff Diego, Daniel Karrer, Kwangho Shin and Cesar Santos (Cesar told me people are paying him 50 dollars to watch him paint.) It shows you that people are still very interested in the craft of painting.
BUY SELL HOLD
These are some of the great talents out there now, buying the emerging young painters will give you great pleasure and the chance to buy at a reasonable price before prices take off. The more established are for deeper pockets. We appreciate your thoughts.
The blog is both amazing and Informative. Very well written and exciting to follow.