Roger Brown

I wasn't initially attracted to American artist Roger Brown's work. I appreciate his patterns but other than that I don't really have any other emotional response to the pieces.
European surrealism seems to have been an inspiration for his pieces. I can see the influences but I also think that he had to focus on more abstractions. He focuses a lot on shape (organic and geometric) and inserts a few figures among his shapes. His work is often panoramic and a bit more flat.

I found research on how his pieces were very personal and whatnot but to me it's just hard to see the personality in his pieces. The only way I could see that is if you put yourself in the painting. the forest above could be a forest in any neighborhood. Overall his work just isn't very inspiring to me.

Joe Brainard

Joe Brainard's work really attracted me in the beginning. It's more collage like, humorous and has some drawings as well. I think I like his work because it's pretty and comprehendable. His pieces just make me smile and if someones work makes me smile then I like it :)

Brainard works mostly with assemblages, collages, drawing, and painting,but does some designs for book and album covers, theatrical sets and costumes. A lot of his pieces have pop art references, especially his "Nancy" pieces. Unlike the complex emotion in many of the other artists i've looked at it seems that Brainard's pieces are a bit more light and airy. I don't want to say that they require less thought but I do think that they are more relate able to everyday people. They just seem like pieces that someone would do just for fun, not necessarily to promote some message. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Brainard's drawings, collages, assemblages, and paintings are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Art Museum, and the Joe Brainard Archive at the University of California, San Diego, as well as in many private and corporate collections."

Ellen Berkenblit

Ellen Berkenblit's work seems a bit more abstract than many of the other artists i've looked at.
Many of her pieces seem to contain a female figure reacting to her environment. Berkenblit tries to incorporate and old world feel to some of her pieces as well. She envisions Europe the way her grandparents saw it.
There is a sense of urgency in her work. Her erratic brushstrokes give a sense of energy to the piece as well as her use of a variety of colors. I really like her use of color but to me it's a bit distracting. It's kind of hard for me to focus in some of her pieces but that might be what she's going for.
Ellen Berkenblit was also a bit difficult to research.

John Bankston

John Bankston 's remind me of coloring book pages. I read that his pieces are suppose to "evoke a world of cyberfiction, slave narratives, fairy tales and leather-bar fantasies". I also read that Bankston was drawn to this "coloring book" style because coloring books allow for a narrative. The color in his pieces are also important as in a coloring book. Certain colors can either make or break the piece. I thought it was interesting that before his pieces were started he would stain his paper with coffee grounds to create that kind of yellow-ish worn in tint that most coloring books have.

Overall I don't really have the same emotional reaction from his pieces as I have from some of the other artists. I do appreciate the originality of his coloring book idea but other than that I probably would not research this artist on my own.

Marcel Dzama

Marcel Dzama works mostly w/ sculpture, painting, film and collage. It's difficult for me to find information on this NY artist. His works above seem simply drawn but upon further inspection you realize that the scenes you expect to see are a bit off. There's death as well as a bit of kookiness which I like. You really have to stop and look at his pieces to see the complete piece. Dzama mixes animals and imaginative figures among humans. this creates a more fantastical world and adds to the drama of his pieces.

Nicole Eisenmann

Nicole Eisenmann's portraits attracted me the most. Her pieces are not necessarily messy but they have a lot of energy and movement. Her other works are also very humorous and a bit more risque. She puts a bra on a man, creates a funny yet sad death of a boy who was hung up on a giraffe and an attractive cowgirl pooping. Some of her pieces just made me go "WTF?!" but I think that's a good thing. They definitely grabbed my attention which is a good thing.
Eisenmann works with many mediums. She creates paintings, drawings, installations and mixed media pieces among others.

The only thing I find a bit puzzling about this artist is that she is all over the place. She creates murals that look more realistic then does a series of portraits that are completely different and more cartoon like. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, I'm just not use to seeing an artist like that.

Kojo Griffin

Kojo Griffin is actually from Virginia which I found interesting but I believe that he is based in Georgia. Most of Griffins pieces are paintings or drawings that try to express "the interdependency of people's actions, and the consequences when people fail to understand the potential results of their actions." I immediately saw this in his pieces, especially his pieces with the female and male figures. Initially I didn't really like his work but I do like the emotion that his pieces evoked in me. It was more sadness than anything I think because I could relate to them. I was able to put myself in the figures' positions. In that way I would say Griffin is pretty successful.
Most of Griffin's figures seem to be some mix of animal and human. To me this makes them more ambiguous and therefore relateable but in another sense I think this makes the figures more "animalistic" and primal such as many human emotions are. Overall I think his works focus more on psychology than the other artists I have researched.