Michael Hensley (1962)

Michael Hensley  is one of the most  respected  and widely acknowledged artists who`s  unique focus was  on figurative drawing with a strong accent on anatomical details.  As it is stated in his biography article on michaelhensley.com he was ”passionately interested in the human figure, Michael was constantly drawing from life …. he spent almost all his time studying canons of proportion and artistic human anatomy”.

He started to draw very seriously in his teens age and received his first formal training in Woodstock School of Art in New York, he also attended lately  the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design, where he was entitled a scholarship due to his talent and dedication.  In his artistic career Michael was particularly inspired by the great masters of Renaissance, especially by Leonardo DaVinci. It is nessesary  to mention that he created a book of a  very much detailed  and “exquisite anatomy”, where human muscles and limbs are drawn with a highest degree of accuracy.  I ike very much his idea about Art which he expressed as : “  Art should be something people strive for, work hard and  dedicate their lives to. Not something you randomly knock out in a half an hour with no  thought  at all”. Below are some of his drawings of human anatomy.

Kiki Smith (1954)

I picked up this artist because she is one of the most widely recognised and praised artist of her generation, who is “fascinated by figurative art and became known for her visceral, often disturbing artworks  that depict the human body in detail, focusing on themes of women  from mythology and folklore..”-  as it is stated in the article about her on the artstory.org.  She is a living American artist,  representing a movement –  feminist art. Her artworks contain drawings, paintings, books and sculptures.  It is  worth to  mention that she did not receive  any strong formal art training or education. She started her training in 1974 at Hartford Art School in Connecticut (USA) but dropped out and she is considered as a “self -taught” artist. Her both  parents pursued artistic careers, her father  was a minimalist sculptor and  when she was a child she used to help him  while he was working in his studio. Thus she had been  early exposed to artistic influence and environment  because her parents had been friends with many well known artists  such as Jason Pollock, Barnet Newman, Tennessee Williams and Mark Rothko. It is considered that she is that type of artists which are mostly self taught.  She is a multidisciplinary artist who does  tattooing, drawing, sculpture, textiles and printmaking.  Her art objects are often a human body and bodily fluids such as blood, semen, bile.

When I do my artists research I always try  to find an interview, where they share their own thoughts about their lives and artworks. For me it is much more interesting than reading numerous critics`s ​essays because I seek for a direct  connection with an artist- a person who  actually creates art, while art  critics articles  often seem to be a chase for original thinking and I dont  always fully understand their ideas because they are too subjective as any opinion, though I still try to read them. I found Kiki`s interview to Heidi Julavits published on July 17, 2017 on interviewmagazine.com  where she shared an amazing thought: ”...One of the things I really love  about being an artist  is that you are in a free fall  your whole life and making art  teaches you to trust yousrelf and to trust your experience and be anle to think on your feet...”. I find this idea as very well thought and very truthful, because any artist is on her-his own, without any suporting social or corporate structure which give so much protection and energy to most of the people. If you do art it is only you with your art and the whole world confronting you. And that is what “teaches you to trust yourself and your own experience” because this is the only way to survive.

Untitled, 1991,  krakow witkin gallery

Untitled, 1992, artsy.net

Teeth drawing 1, 1983, artsy.net

Philip Pearlstein (1924)

Philip Pearlstein is an American painter, a one of the greatest figurative artists of the 20th  century. His artwork is mostly consist of nude models. He has received his formal training at Carnegie Institute of Technologys art school where  he and  Andy Warhol were  fellow students  and friends. He also studied art history at New York University. His early artworks were done in abstract expressionist style before he found his focus on large scale nudes and he is considered as Modern realist. As it is mentioned in the article of Janet Mckenzie published on studiointernational.com on April 11th, 2016  “... he turns 92  in May and yet he continues to work on large scale paintings....”. Philip Pearlstein is an artist with a very long, almost seven decades, career. His approach  is based on “perceptual drawing” where close observation is a key element. It is interesting to know  how he works: “I start in the center of the canvas. What is missing around the edges of the canvas is someones else problem”. This is how he explains why the figures on his drawings sometimes missing their heads. Personally, I find his technique and style as very appealing to me. His nude figures even though they are often look like very much exposed in their nude pose  ( “dynamic and unexpected”) to a public eye, don’t seem sexual or erotic to me at all. I see lot of humanity in his images, to me they are about Zhanara to be a human. May be I project too much, but I see artist`s  character in them as of a very kind person. This opinion of mine totally contradicts with what Benjamin Genocchio says about Pearlstein`s artworks in his article in The New York Times on October 28, 2007 : “… it is easy to get an impression that the artist doesn’t like people. His nudes are like holograms or mannequins, almost real but never acuity coming to life…”.

I appreciate his strong technique skills in terms of shades and  creating light  on the skin, I also find his taste  and colours as very elegant. Critics find his paintings  as “flawlessly  flat painted” because there is a “lack of depth of field”.  To minimise this flatness he incorporates  patterned rugs and checked floor tiles as a ground to position his figures.

Standing Male, Sitting Female Nudes, 1969; oil on canvas; mutualart.com

Model in Kimono on Plastic Chair, 2001; color lithograph;  mutualart.com

Two Female Models, One seated; One reclining with arm overhead, 1965; oil on canvas; mutualart.com

Reference list:

1) http://www.michaelhensley.com

2)  GCSEE Art -Michael Hensley, Pinterest, by Lauren Hoyle

3)“Kiki Smith Artist Overview  and Analysis”, (Internet) 2018 TheArtStory.org Content compiled by the Art Story Contributors, published and edited by The Art Story Contributors.

4) Heidi Julaviz  www.interviewmagazine.com

5) http://www.artnet.com<artists&lt; Kiki smith

6) http://www.artnet.com <artists <Philip-pearlstein

7) Janet Mackenzie, 11.04. 2016  studiointernational.com

8) Ken Johnson, Jan. 6, 2009; The New York Times; http://www.nytimes.com

9) Benjamin Genocchio, The New York Times; Oct.28, 2007; http://www.nytimes.com