Lorraine Shemesh

Lorraine Shemesh

Bubbles, 1990, oil on canvas

Spots, 2012, oil on canvas

Lorraine Shemesh is a hyper-realist painter. She lists Edward Hopper, athletic figures, dancers, Abstract Expressionism, and Neo-Impressionism as her influences.

Themes include unconventional cityscapes, figures, interiors, repetition, and water.

Her underwater scenes are super good - highly saturated colors with water distortion. Her earlier works are humorous and contemplative.

Mark Tansey

Mark Tansey

The Innocent Eye Test, oil on canvas

Doubting Thomas, 1985, oil on canvas

Mark Tansey has been described as a historian-painter of the Postmodern art world. (If you glanced at them you might think they were history paintings but they have surprising and unexpected subject matter). (You might even think they were highly faded photographs.)

This guy is pretty cool - he paints representations of Doubting Thomas and people painting a spaceship. Represents action/instant painting, because you couldn't paint a spaceship because it would take too long. He uses a monochromatic color scheme.

He is very technically skilled in his use of humor and criticism of art.

Neo Rauch

Neo Rauch

Felsen, 2001, oil on canvas

Regel, 2000, oil on paper

Neo Rauch is a German oil painter. He combines themes of politics and personal history, Social Realism , and industrial alienation.

Subjects include men in uniform taking control of civilian life. The landscapes clash and have no apparent intention.  The artist or painter often appears in the paintings themselves, engaging in a violent struggle. Formally the figures appear realistically comic-booky like a cartoon I would turn off or a violent graphic novel.

His works have been described as "failed utopia"

video

John Currin

John Currin

The Bra Shop, 1997, oil on canvas

Kiev, 2008, oil on canvas

John Currin is a figurative painter influenced by Renaissance oil paintings, contemporary culture, politics, and women's magazines.

He creates parodies of our sex-obsessed culture through distortion of the human figure. Main themes include pornographic eroticism and manipulation. Often his portraits appear satirical, kitschy, and humorous. Over time his works have gotten much more explicitly erotic.

Will Cotton

Will Cotton

Ice Cream, 2009

Cherry Pop, 2000

Will Cotton juxtaposes landscapes of ice cream and candy, etc. with portraits of beautiful women. His works resemble a Candy Land scene or a gingerbread house. These utopias evoke sight, smell, touch, and taste.

He features elements of advertising, human desire, sugar, and sex (all relatable). He paints with old master technical precision. Some of his paintings appear to be photographs.

His use of color, usually pastel,  provides a dreamlike quality to his paintings.