What makes painters great

The fast-setting medium of encaustic makes each brushstroke distinct. It is both gesture and object, lushness and reticence. It set the stage for Pop, Minimal, and, to an extent, Conceptual art. Rosenthal here offers a rare glimpse into the way she, and the Met, evaluate a modern masterpiece. The classics generally come to us fully validated, but who determines—and how—what makes a modern masterpiece?

To find out, ARTnews asked eight people, including art historians, museum directors, curators, and an artist, to discuss what they consider to be the greatest works of three pivotal artists of the last 50 years: Jasper Johns b. Each focused on one of the artists while sometimes commenting on the others. This goes for the early work, the single images of the late s, but also for the more recent ones. What makes a great Warhol great, remarks Thomas Sokolowski , director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, is the way it can capture the tragic and sublime simultaneously, as in the Marilyn Monroe portraits.

Warhol achieved this not only by choosing a loaded subject—he began the Marilyn series after the actress died, in —but also through his silk-screen process.

But in his case, they blurred. A picture with two very similar objects, like two trees or two fruits of the same size and shape, becomes static, almost boring. Odd numbers are always more interesting. It is very important that you enjoy the process. If you paint with enjoyment and inspiration it will show through in the finished painting. Let's see how the personal components of freshness, inspiration, and readiness are crucial for the success of a painting.

When you first start a painting, you have a lot of enthusiasm for the scene. You are inspired by what you want to paint and you put a lot of energy into it. Remind yourself continuously what captivated you about that particular scene, what was so exciting that enticed you to paint it. Keep your focus on what you are trying to express. There is always a phase in the painting process during which the painting looks messy and hopeless, I call that the ugly stage. I find that one of the worst enemies of artistic productivity is wasting time.

Your space should be set up to keep distractions to a minimum, with what you are going to need paint, brushes, rags, water, etc all easily reachable. But before you can start, make sure you have a plan. Start when you are ready and be ready to start when you show up. November Sunset, a small oil painting on gesso board.

Uniqueness in art can come from an original approach or idea that departs from traditional or previously established forms. It sprouts from a new idea or approach. It can be found on the subject-matter, style, size, materials, presentation, and many other elements of art.

Unfortunately, the public sometimes has a hard time accepting or understanding original works that break with established and accepted traditional forms. So when something that departs from tradition is presented, at first it might not get the appreciation that it may gain later, once people have had time to adjust and absorb what is really being placed before them.

Every painting presents different challenges and many times those challenges can become amazing opportunities for experimenting and self-improving. That is a nice way to say that with each work comes the opportunity for failure. It may not be in the current painting that you see the results, but the next ones will definitely benefit from the struggle and the problem solving that you went through today.

Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. My year-old grandmother has one of my earlier paintings on her wall in a nursing home It is a painting of my grandfather her husband who passed away years ago walking down to the ocean to his boat in Newfoundland from a small cabin on a hill above the sea.

I personally never appreciated the piece. She told me she looks at it every day and gets something out of it. She loves it. I realized now that this is the whole purpose of art, to communicate a memory a thought or an idea. All the facts are there. Some of the best artists in the world keep their paintings simple. They convey one idea at a time. Too many ideas in one painting can complicate. It just seems to come down to what we like.

If so, we can't dismiss another style as meaningful because we don't have an affinity for that style. Plain and simple to me anyway something you just cannot take your eyes off of. Something that you see that strikes your soul to the very depths, that opens your eyes and your mind to the beauty of it.

I'm not saying there are no exceptions. I think what makes a piece of work great is it's ability to reach a common theme, a common thread, a common emotion for want of a better word, with enough people. Or it might not speak to them at all. It might teach you something new! Art is hard! Saying something meaningful, powerful or original is hard! We only succeed in bits and pieces, here and there, now and then. In planning an artwork, you often need to conduct related exercises, explorations and experiments.

Planning an entire meal involves more than just knowing cooking techniques. That means learning to plan your own paintings, but how? Wild and garish?

Sure, but I can always paint over it or parts of it later. For now, it has the same effect on me as opening a brand-new box of 64 Crayolas. Considering why you are painting, in general or this particular painting, can help you create work with more impact and get more enjoyment and satisfaction out of the process.

Make your inner critic work for you, instead of against you, by challenging lazy thinking and asking the right questions. This article is the fifth in a series about creating paintings with more emotion, power and personal meaning.

Here are links to the first four: Is My Painting Done?