Allegedly it is actually summer at the moment. Whether you’re getting some sunshine or not, these summer-themed original paintings are sure to create a sunshiney mood in your home or office.

Nirvana by Simon Kenny
Reach a divine state with Simon Kenny’s Nirvana, which brings Turner’s seascapes to mind. Simon is a multi-award winning artist who aims to balance materialism and spiritualism through lyrical abstraction. He uses his artistic process to better understand his experience of the human condition and has sold to multiple public and private clients around the world.

Cresting by Denise Allen

Surf’s Up with Cresting by Denise Allen. Denise’s travels in Menorca and Bermuda have informed her fresh and inspiring seascapes. She teaches watercolour painting, including regular watercolour painting holidays in Menorca.

Langdale by Lita Narayan

Lita Narayan’s Langdale brings to mind the quiet of lazy summer days spent in the countryside. With its warm colour scheme and relaxed feel it’s the perfect choice for a living room or bedroom.

Sutton Church by Alice P Jenkins

Alice P Jenkins’ painting immediately evokes the English countryside. Fresh, bright colours and a whimsical style make this a good choice for a quirky contemporary interior, perhaps displayed in salon style with other works.  Alice loves to paint from life, en plein air.

Virginian by Irina Rumyantseva

Virginian by Irina Rumyantseva is a fabulously textured painting with strong colours that compliment each other beautifully. As a contemporary abstract painting, suggestive of landscape, it would work perfectly in a corporate interior or modern home. Irina says “When I paint I pour my emotions out onto the canvas and convey the beauty that I see in everyday life in a way that others can see it to.  When I finish a piece I am filled with a sense of accomplishment and integrity. ”

You can now own an original piece of art with a 0% APR interest free loan. Art2Arts are pleased to offer 10 months’ interest free credit* through Arts Council England’s Own Art scheme. Art collecting is hot news at the moment, with more and more people buying art as a financial investment, and record prices being seen at auction houses around the world. The own art scheme gives just about anyone the chance to get on the ladder and begin investing in fine art. It’s a great way to support contemporary UK artists, while gaining a piece of original art that will truly enrich your living space.

Own Art is only available through galleries, museums and other arts organisations that have been approved by Arts Council England, Creative Scotland or Arts Council of Northern Ireland as registered members of the scheme.

How does Own Art work?
Buy any piece of artwork on the site, or commission an artist to create a piece priced between £100 – £2000, and spread the cost over 10 monthly installments (typical example: artwork costs £300, 10 monthly payments of £30). There’s no deposit required, however, if you would prefer to make an initial payment you can use the scheme as part payment and spread the remaining amount (typical example: artwork costs £300, you would like to pay £100 upfront, spread the remaining £200 over 10 monthly payments of £20).

You can purchase multiple pieces as long as the total cost does not exceed £2000.

 

Applying is easy, and the criteria are quite inclusive:
If you would like to apply for our interest-free loan please email your contact details to sales@art2arts.co.uk or call 023 92699 990.

 Own Art is available to all UK residents over the age of 18, subject to status. This means that you must be able to meet the following criteria in order to be approved for a loan:

• Over the age of 18
• A permanent UK resident
• Working at least 16 hours a week (employed or self-employed)

If you are not working but are married to or living with a partner who does have a full time job, then you may still apply provided that your partner is happy for their employment details to be included on your application form.

Visit the Art2Arts online gallery to see the hundreds of original art pieces that you could buy right away with an interest-free loan from the Own Art Scheme.

Art2Arts is a licensed broker of Own Art loans. Registered address: 30 Lower Derby Road, Stamshaw, Portsmouth, PO2 8EX.

 

 

Today sees the 2^ndpart of a series where I try to explain a well-known art movement while avoiding “artspeak” or jargon. I’ll at least promise to explain any artspeak, or link to a definition, if I do have to use it! What is Surrealism?
Surrealism is perhaps the 20^th Century’s best-known art movement, having  achieved popular status via its most famous proponent, Salvador Dali.The movement, at least in the visual arts, is all about unexpected and unrelated pairings, and visual surprises, that often create a dream-like feeling, to amusing or unsettling result.Along with Dali, a few of early-20^th-century surrealism’s best know practitioners are Joan Miro, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and Frida Kahlo.

Source: http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79018

Roots in Dadaism
Surrealism emerged from another art movement, Dada, which sprung up in Europe during WW1. Dada was a hugely radical movement – it was all about challenging established norms in both art and life. Dadaists, like modernist writers, had seen the wholesale mismanagement and mass carnage inflicted in the name of Queen and Country as part of WW1, and realized they could no longer trust the government, the establishment, even God and their parents, and therefore chose to challenge old fashioned visual media (like oil paintings of the countryside) that represented established norms. Dadaism, despite being a lesser-known movement compared to surrealism, possessed an influence that has extended all the way into modern visual culture, influencing the punk look especially. Hana Hoch’s piece, shown below, is a classic example of Dadaist art.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hoch-Cut_With_the_Kitchen_Knife.jpg

Surrealism’s Development.
The writer, and Dadaist, Andre Breton founded the surrealist movement in 1924. He and other surrealists believed that established society had weighed down people’s unconscious minds, meaning that they could not express themselves freely. Creating surrealist art was a way of unlocking the voice of the subconscious. They did this through methods like automatic drawing, where the artist simply draws without thinking or planning, and the hand is allowed to move randomly over the paper. The images that result are supposedly the expression of subconscious or unconscious thoughts.  As a result of the emphasis on the subconscious, surrealist paintings often contain dream-like symbols and images.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Masson_automatic_drawing.jpg

Surrealist Painting Today.
Although surrealism’s heyday was during the early 20^th Century, it’s had a profound influence on visual art, design, film, and photography, extending to the present day.  In the world of painting, pop-surrealism, or lowbrow art, is a movement centered around Los Angeles that arose in the 1970s and is currently highly popular. Hans Rudolf Giger is also considered a contemporary surrealist, and paintings inspired by Giger’s and Dali’s works in particular are popular sellers in traditional and online galleries around the world.

Today sees the first in a series of posts, No Artspeak Allowed, where I’m going to explain a number of modern painting styles and movements. My aim is to explain them in a clear and digestible way, using as little baffling jargon and artspeak as possible, and if I do use it, I’ll explain its meaning, or provide a link to a simple explanation, (or you can tell on me!) Obviously I’m not going to know if I’ve totally avoided artspeak unless you tell me, so please do feed back in the comments and social media.What is Artspeak?

Artspeak is a formal and intellectual way of talking about art that uses a lot of unnecessary jargon. Check out this example, courtesy of this irreverent service:

“Ever since I was a student I have been fascinated by the essential unreality of the human condition. What starts out as undefined soon becomes debased into a tragedy of distress, leaving only a sense of decadence and the possibility of a new synthesis.
As subtle replicas become clarified through diligent and academic practice, the viewer is left with a statement of the corners of our culture.”

Right, so now we know our enemy, let’s have a look at today’s movement. It’s abstract expressionism, a mid-20^th century North American and European movement.

Let’s look at the term itself. Abstract art is that which isn’t supposed to “look like” something from the real world, or it may look like a pared down and simplified (abstracted) version of something from the real world. “Expressionism” simply refers to the emotional intensity in the work; these painters were expressing their feelings on canvas.

Abstract expressionism’s major centres were New York and San Francisco, and the style’s most important years were from 1940-1960. US artists were inspired by earlier European expressionism, and developed this inspiration into their own more anarchic, energetic and rebellious style. Indeed, abstract expressionism has a strong link with the concept of the outcast, rebel artist; the style is associated with the beat generation and with nihilist philosophers such as Nietzsche.

Abstract expressionist artists

Possibly the most well-known abstract expressionist was Jackson Pollock. (1912-1956) His large scale drip paintings, with their highly physical method of production, work with the twin ideas of abstraction and expressionism perfectly.

A second artist who springs into many minds when abstract expressionism is mentioned is Willem de Kooning. His work is a good example of what I mentioned a bit ago about abstract art looking like a pared down or simplified version of something from the real world. We can see a female human figure in most of his paintings, but the figure is “abstracted” to various degrees.

Ok so short but sweet for a big art movement, but I hope that explained in a nutshell what abstract expressionism is about, and that the pictures I chose are good examples of the style. Please comment and let me know! Check back next week for No ArtSpeak Allowed #2 : Surrealism.