Ye Olde Classmates: Michael Lierly Part 2

Michael Lierly is a dear friend of mine since freshman year of art school.
I did another post a while back on Mike, but recently saw some new pieces on his flickr, facebook and official site, so I decided to show you them in a new post.  I'm wildly excited about these.

First Rite

Th Young Initiate

He spent a summer teaching in Little Rock recently, during which he was working on these drawings with the dancing nymph-like people.  I think they are entirely from imagination.

The one below was a pose from a weekly figure group we were doing for a while.  Love the little ghosty faces.

Night Singers

Actors Feigning Death

Annalea

Beautiful landscape.  It makes me laugh though because the whole scene looks like some kind of plein air outing mishap.  "Hey, what the...? Who just ran into the frame?!"

The Corridor

The one below is my personal favorite.  The angels simply must be stolen from Caravaggio's "Seven Acts of Mercy", which appear on on of my t-shirts.  I think he stole the angels from my shirt.  The shadow of a passing cloud cast over the left edge of the painting creates a wonderful sense of depth as well as a psychological layer to the standing figure.  She also looks like a hobbit.

Private History

Michael is also a great draftsman and colorist, and has a wonderful sense of humanity about his figures.

Tema

 Gorgeous color study.

Maria

Ye Olde Classmates: James Jean

Another towering figure in our graduating class was James Jean. I did not really realize the magnitude of his popularity until I started showing his work to my students, and he happened to be a hero of many of them. We shared a few friends and painted together a few times, but I didn't get to know him all that well. Sometimes he would bring a trumpet to class and play, which was good fun. He always, always, always, was sketching everyone and everything.

Although he has found great success as an illustrator, he is the envy of all kinds of draftsmen.

This was always my favorite.



An old student piece. I think this is from one of our classes, but I can't remember.



James posts his sketchbooks on his site, and you can flip through page by page. Pretty fun. He actually sells them, and even publishes books of his sketches that you can buy on his website.





A 9/11 sketch. I tried to do one too from midtown, but didn't get anything.


I need to see James's sketches more often, and they always inspire me to crack open the moleskin. Is there any greater master of the sketchbook? I think he's the reigning champion.





Breathtaking.



What, does he live on an airplane?



Another old one, apparently on paper.

Another one from Steve Assael's class. The light on the female figure is a dead giveaway. Gorgeous, beautiful paintings. Wow.

Ye Olde Classmates: Matt Ballou

Matt Ballou attended graduate school together at Indiana University and I didn't get to know each other very well due to our mutually extreme introversion, but we probably should have been friends. We were both outsiders who bore the scarlet letter known as "old master syndrome"

I am glad to have recently gotten back in touch again, and I have been enjoying his new work. Especially Poignant are his drawings.

This drawing is my favorite . It has the feel of an old engraving to me. I really enjoy the world he builds with the brick landscape.

This is a study/sketch for a painting that I look forward to seeing.

This reminds me of atlas, but he's carrying a bunch of brick's instead of the world on his back.


It reminds me of the Junk Lady in the 80's movie, Labyrinth.

"The Omen" reminds me of Jean Francois Millet's peasant paintings. (Compare below)


Jean-Francois Millet

Ye Olde Classmates: David Cunningham

David Cunningham was completing his second and final year of graduate school at Indiana University the year I began my first year. In retrospect it is hard to believe how many incredibly talented people I had the privilege of sharing a classroom with, and David was one of the best of them.

Primarily a still-life painter, David's paintings possess an almost mathematically precise perfection in form that is surreal in effect, free of spot or blemish. His compositions are light-filled arrangements of unambiguous color-shapes.

The drawings on David's site are not among his most recent works, but as a figure person myself I am partial to them, especially for the innovative ways that he uses the figure. The two drawings above are entitled "Annunciation I" and "Annunciation II", foreshadowing his wife's pregnancy with their first child. David mentioned to me that he used the shadow across the thigh to suggest a garter belt as well as a pregnant belly, which blew my mind. I had never thought of using shadow in such a way. I 'm not sure if it is intentional, but I can't help but think of the painting below by Andrew Wyeth


"Lovers" by Andrew Wyeth

"Past, Present, Future"

I find it interesting that when men represent their own bodies, there is often a bestial or animal quality in the pose, and the viewer is an uninvited guest. The drawing above always reminded me of a Bigfoot sighting.

Sasquatch

In Masaccio's Expulsion from Paradise, Adam's hunched over in a similar apelike fashion, suggesting the animal nature of fallen man. The figures almost try to fold in on themselves.

"Division"

"Division", also part of this series of graphite drawings seems to speak of the divide between the spiritual and animal side of man, at least that's my interpretation. I find it quite Gollumesque.


Lastly, I'd like to show you a piece that David worked on in graduate school. It was considered a fire hazard to paint in the hallways unless evacuation was necessary. David hung his in progress painting directly next to the fire hose to produce and exact visual replica, including an actual metal handle installed into the panel. Clearly disobeying the warning on the door reading "FIRE USE ONLY" he creates another possible fire hazard in producing a replica that may be mistaken for the real thing. David has since taken this one off of his website, but to me it is a memory worth recalling.