Your favorite artist from your least favorite art movement

Lucian

I don't know if this has been discussed before on this forum, but this is a fun thought experiment I like to invite people to partake in.

They say that many people who are into art have a favorite and a least favorite art movement (if not several). I don't know if that's true throughout a person's entire life, as tastes do change every now and then.

I assume that most of the members of this forum prefer realism or hyperrealism. I would like you to reply to this thread and tell me which is your least favorite art movement / period, and name one artist who belongs to said art movement whose body of work you like the most.

"How can I like an artist's work if it belongs in an art movement that I dislike?" - you're going to ask me.   Well, maybe there is a particular something about it that you enjoy, whether this be its symbolism, innovation, choice of colors etc. ... or, if you can't find such an artist, at least name the artist whose works you dislike the least out of said art movement.

Abstraction

I like lots of different kinds of art. Realism is only one of my styles - just the one that interests me at the moment. I'll have to think about one I like in a genre that doesn't normally appeal.

My least favourite art movements are related to post-modernism in specific cases where it's little more than a shock statement. Andy Warhol's cans of soup. Ok, yeah, we get it, it's art. And someone will believe you and pay big money because you're famous. But for me, no aesthetic value. I consider him a result of branding that fed well into the media machine to get attention. Tins of soup not at all genius, just following a trend of post-modernism in literature, music (the duet of a guy beating the piano with a dead fish while another sold clammy pizza to the audience). I do actually love a lot of post-modern film and literature and appreciate its place.

I don't like abstract that relies on the title. As in, they splash paint around, then decide what it means. It's like happy accident masquerading as brilliance. I lived with two art students who did exactly that, so it colours my view. If I could say to someone, paint me the emotion 'bittersweet' or 'feeling exultant' or a concept of 'liberty'. Then if they could produce those emotions or evoke that idea in the painting I would love it.

tassieguy

I dislike the Pre-Raphaelites because of their Victorian moralizing and sickly sentimentality. However, they were technically  masterful. The Pre-Raphaelite I like the most/dislike least is Edward Burne-Jones. Here is a fine example of his work which is housed at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne Australia. He was a fine technician, chose more allegorical subjects and was less sentimental than others of the Pre-Raphael Brotherhood. 

The Wheel of Fortune




You can read a little about this painter here: Edward Burne-Jones - Wikipedia

Lucian

Abstraction said:

I like lots of different kinds of art. Realism is only one of my styles - just the one that interests me at the moment. I'll have to think about one I like in a genre that doesn't normally appeal.

My least favourite art movements are related to post-modernism in specific cases where it's little more than a shock statement. Andy Warhol's cans of soup. Ok, yeah, we get it, it's art. And someone will believe you and pay big money because you're famous. But for me, no aesthetic value. I consider him a result of branding that fed well into the media machine to get attention. Tins of soup not at all genius, just following a trend of post-modernism in literature, music (the duet of a guy beating the piano with a dead fish while another sold clammy pizza to the audience). I do actually love a lot of post-modern film and literature and appreciate its place.

I don't like abstract that relies on the title. As in, they splash paint around, then decide what it means. It's like happy accident masquerading as brilliance. I lived with two art students who did exactly that, so it colours my view. If I could say to someone, paint me the emotion 'bittersweet' or 'feeling exultant' or a concept of 'liberty'. Then if they could produce those emotions or evoke that idea in the painting I would love it.

So, who would you say your favorite representative of postmodern art is?

Abstraction

I think some of Salvador Dali's work - I mean he kept exploring different spaces. I loved the surrealism, but cubism and other forms were also powerful in a range of ways. My favourite work is Christ of St John of the Cross.

My favourite contemporary artist is Banksy, another one with prolific output. The canvas for graffiti is the man-made world that imposes itself over us and overshadows us. Graffiti used to be like silent screams in four-letter words - or gang tags. Then the artists like him started to reflect deeper things. The context is part of the art. Banksy's work touches things inside me that shimmer - as though they actualise those feelings I have inside. He brings innocence and outrage and resistance together so simply in the dead of night.