Although well-known and greatly respected figure in Europe for many years, his art has been fairly slow to come to the attention of public in the United States. I first saw his paintings outside of art books during his "Gerhard Richter: 40 Years of Painting" retrospective in MOMA in New York back in 2001. That particular exhibition showcased how diverse his body of work is. Even though this diverse range of work sparked a lot of discussion from critics, that is precisely what attracted me to the artist. Richter has disregard "traditional" stylistic progression and has challenged painting to meet demands set by new forms of abstract art.  

Born in Dresden in 1932 like many Germans of his generations he had relatives which were involved in Nazi movement and this severe ideology and death have haunted  the artist since his childhood and I believe can be seen through his work.

After Richter's first solo exhibition at Düsseldorf in 1963 which displayed photo-based painting of regular images, he said: "I believe in nothing".

Some of Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings are on view at Marian Goodman Gallery in New York until January 9, 2010 for those who would want to see his amazing work.  And you can also go to the artist’s website to see more of his wonderful work. pictures via [sauer-thompson] and [telegraph]

Robert Bradford was psychotherapist with passion and also formal training in art in addition to his career in medicine, but until recently he was little known for his art. In 2002 he started experimenting with used kids toys creating uniquely shaped life size figures of animals and humans out parts, bits and pieces that used to be a toy before. What happened is that he was able to turn this toy full quality of his building blocks into quite stunning pieces of art that have a strong visual resemblance with toys, yet they are really not. Extensive use of colorful parts in various patterns also bring a piece of history, according to artist. Each component represents a point in time. A colorful detailed pattern has almost brush stroke like resemblance reminding me one of my favorite contemporary painters Françoise Nielly. Recycling is not his primary concern, but each sculpture certainly keeps quite a few pieces from becoming landfill. Some of the sculptures contain pieces from up to 3,000 toys and sell for £12,000 (US$19,000)

Taking cues from the provoking modernist exhibits, London-based artist Cedric Christie's presented us with the rather intriguing show named Love Me or Fuck Me but don't do both. The ironic subluminal agenda of the artist to poke at all thing accepted is definitely surprising and provoking. Christie’s compacted pink Oldsmobile - transformed into a wall mounted ‘painting’ - is an articulate exposition of Christie’s clear intentions to do things in unexpected and surprising fashion. Art objects ranging from plastic pipes to snooker balls, and brickwork to scraps create a un doubtfully opinionated reactions from gallery visitors. Profound, funny and erudite - despite his valiant efforts to ‘bring down’ high art - Christie’s latest exhibit can’t help but push his pin even deeper into the art world map. [via wallpaper]

James Turrell is one of the most inspiring artists in the world creating his work with light and space. He looks are a bit to similar to Karl Marx and has an aura of a man who has found his place in the details that textured into the foundation of our world. Living in not so exciting German town of Wolfsburg (he is only one hour away from his exhibit in Berlin.

Born in Los Angeles in 1943, Turrell studied a handful of diverse areas mathematics, psychology and sensory synesthesia as well as art at university. He flies around the desert in little planes and has devoted the best part his working life to turning a volcano into a piece of land art. Hos that for a hobby…I still have a lot to learn here, I mean on that planet.

When you enter his gallery space you enter the installation from above via a steep slope and walk down into a palpable bath of light. It is an extraordinary experience, something between sensory deprivation and a kind of LED-induced Nirvana. The color, shifting from blue to grey to orange, pink and then red is defined within the space but seems infinite at the same time. Other figures within the space become silhouettes floating within it and perspectives become strangely distorted. Impressive ay least, overwhelmingly awesome to be more precise. [via wallpaper]

Minjae Lee is only 19 but his work transcends the depth of life experience and drama that only acquired with life, experience and ultimately age of an artist.  His hand drawn images are beautiful, dark ,mysterious, and exceptionally well painted for a self taught artist. Having gone through all Art education one can handle I have to say that I’m NOT surprised of the level and quality of his work. Here is why: In the art especially fine art, talent is a king, you can teach an artist all the techniques in  the world and train him to be a good maybe very good at his craft, but pure raw talent that comes out of a natural ability that CAN”T be taught. Minjae Lee is also a very well informed artist favoring works of a famous Japanese photographer Hiroshi Nonami and highly acclaimed fashion designer born in Gibraltar  John Galliano The irony of being discovered if we can use this term her is that it can happened very early in life or very late like in the case of Richard Hambelton whose earlier work was displayed all over building wall in NYC and US in general but took him over 30 years receive the spot light many artist are waiting for.  We always enjoyed work produced by NAXART group of artist with diverse backgrounds. [via thecoolhunter]

Artist Richard Hambelton spend most of the 80’s in New York, cruising streets of Manhattan leaving bizarre imagery spray painted on the walls of the city. NYC in the 80’s was not quite the place it is right now crime, prostitution and drugs were ruling large pockets of the city. Richard Hambelton began drawing his “Image Mass Murder” pieces right about that time. Morbid public display of the violence reflected in his art was disturbingly fascinating appearing everywhere but then it all just stopped. Artist abandoned his adopted city and when on the cross country tour spreading his art  all over the US. Each piece he produce took just a few seconds, and then he would quickly disappear into the night  with a can of black paint hidden under his trench coat.

Richard Hambleton's work have been shown internationally in world-class galleries and museums, including paintings on canvas and paper of his "shadow" work.Richard Hambleton's artwork has been represented in the Venice Biennale in 1984 and 1988,and his work is part of numerous permanent collections including that of the Museum of Modern Art.

In 2009, the works of Richard Hambleton were displayed in an exhibition celebrating his 40 year career as an artist entitled, "Richard Hambleton - New York." The exhibit was the result of a collaborative effort between Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Andy Valmorbida, and Giorgio Armani.

Presented at a space located at 560 Washington Street in New York City, the show was heavily publicized and featured as part of New York Fashion Week. Designed to be an "art event," similar to those in the days of Andy Warhol, the opening attracted many celebrities, including Mary J. Blige, Bruce Willis, Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Aniston; as well as a host of supermodels of the fashion world, including Lily Donaldson and Bar Refaeli. The show opened on September 15, 2009, and is seen by some as re-establishing Richard Hambleton's important place in the history of modern art.

[via V Magazine]

Ray Caesar is a gifted artist who’s creations are strange and yet wonderful. In some odd way his art work makes me think of Alice in Wonderland.  It’s quite fascinating to know that Ray Caesar’s remarkably whimsical images of children actually come from working for over a decade in the Arts and Photography Department of the hospital for sick children in Toronto.[via opium-fields ]

These posters have beautiful combination of watercolors and graphics. Love the texture and shapes. It would be great to see more of these type of integrated art works. Very rich work. [via behance ]

And again we amazed at the talent and diversity of exceptionally well developed compositions by Paco Peregrin a Spanish fashion photographer.  So let the work speak for itself.  [via pacoperegrin]

Alberto Seveso is and Italian born graphic designer that pioneered a technique which he called “sperm shaping” . The fantastic style that he creates is done by combining black and white photos with colorful vectors. Even if the work is mildly disturbing its hard not to say WOW. [ behance ]