"Eric Clapton Blues" by Leonid Afremov
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Leonid Afremov, Israeli modern impressionistic artist who works mainly with a palette knife and oils. He developed his own unique technique and style which is unmistakable and cannot be confused with other artists. Over many years, he developed many different techniques and this led to him becoming a successful artist. In 1973 Leonid Afremov graduated with honor from high school in Vitebsk and was admitted to the Vitebsk Education Institute where he studied in the arts and graphics department. During his years in college, Afremov was introduced to the work of March Chagall, Picasso, Dali, Modigliani and the 19th century French Impressionism. His early artistic work was very influenced by Chagall and Modigliani. During his years in college, Afremov participated in various school exhibitions and even sold some paintings. In 1978 Afremov graduated from the Vitebsk Art School as one of their elite members. After that he took private lessons from local famous artist Barowski who was teaching art when Marc Chagall was still living in Vitebsk. Later when he was living in Israel, after working in an advertisement agency, he worked in a gallery shop where he learned to make frames, being introduced to the palette knife for the first time. This was a a huge stepping stone for him, since he would later be recognized for his unique style of creating colorful and textured artwork using only a palette knife. During the early 1990s, Leonid Afremov was mainly working with watercolors and acrylic. He was experimenting very little with usage of the palette knife. For this project I also wanted it to be one of the most eye-catching that I have created within this year. I wanted this piece to really show who I am as a person: someone who puts others needs before herself without getting anything in return. Although, Frida did not believe she belonged in any art movement, her works straddles many different movements (Surrealism, Figural Expressionism and Magic Realism)Within the Figural Expressionism movement, it was very common for artists to believe that figural painting was still at the time, very important and that their artworks should communicate a deeper truth beyond surface appearance. The majority of Frida's works were self portraits, often placing herself in magical or fantastical landscapes, while other portraits open her body wide to display female internal organs or the horrific medical issues she experienced throughout her lifetime. In almost all of her work, she is dressed in traditional Mexican clothing and her artistic style has roots in her heritage, folk art, and Catholicism. All of her work focused on themes of feminism, childbirth, miscarriage, abortion and menstruation. The idea of this piece is to show how my positive my friend is and what their energy feels like, in this case to me, it feels like I am in a field of flowers where I am calm. I feel like I am in an oasis. For the background, my plans are to incorporate the idea/technique of using the palette knife to create texture. I want to do this to have a contrast within the medium I am using within this piece. For example, I know that I want to have the middle be a bit more realistic and blended then the background. |
Similarities- multitude of colors/variety
- texture is added to the background using oil paint - the figure is within the center of the piece - Use of a palette knife to create the background, which is similar to what Afremov did with his artwork - Nature is placed in the background like "Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" |
Differences- figure in the middle is very blended and is very realisitic
- no texture is added to the figure - the figure is monochromatic (only painted in purple) - Many colors are dispersed throughout the background, which is not similar to Frida's artwork. |