ART Habens Contemporary Art Review | Page 174

ART Habens Amanda Graham For me, somebody as iconic as Muhammed Ali is almost fantasy like because their life stories are so far removed from the average lifestyle. I paint people with these levels of success to provoke the normal and make you remind you that anything is possible when reaching for your personal goals. There are a quite a lot of artist that I admire, some known as many unknown but the top four would be in this order. My fourth choice is Laolu who is a Nigerian artist based in New York, he paints on everything but he is known as painting the scared art of the Ori. The blend of traditional African art and his New York flavour creates a new and fantastic dynamic art form which utterly adore. Yayoi Kusama would be my third choice, she is also one of the mothers of surface design. A true pioneer and an inspiration to women artist across the globe. In second place is one of the greatest minds in the Italian renaissance period. He was such a brilliant mind and his work was fused with science maths and engineering. The legendary Davinic is creator of Mona Lisa, The Virgin of the Rocks, Vitruvian Man and the last supper are just some of his amazing works. I am in awe of the structure of his work which is irreplaceable, nonpareil and exceptional. Finally my favourite artist of all time is Esther Mahlangu the South African Artist who has dedicated her whole life to promotion and evolution of Ndebele painting. I love the geometrically, traditional and simplicity of her works through her repetitive cultural designs. ‘I like light, color, luminosity, I like things full of color and vibrant’ Oscar de la renta The above quote from the famous fashion designer is quite similar to the way I choose the colour palette of my art pieces. The colours I adore and the particular shades are chosen to make the viewer feel alive. In keeping with this theme, I would blend colours together, which would give an illusion of movement. When it comes to the issue of colour and vibrancy I love my work to be alive and through the process of painting there comes a point where the art takes a life of its own. I also love the use of repetitive patterns and the beautiful shapes, that are created the more you repeat a pattern. The process is all to do with a layering effect and a build-up of patterns, designs shading and precision. Special Issue I adore the traditional art form, detail and complexities are important aspects of my 23 4 05