With their variety of styles and media, modern and contemporary artworks are appealing, engaging, and occasionally controversial. Although buying art can be a complicated and expensive undertaking, it doesn’t have to be. Artsnap works directly with trusted artists, galleries, dealers and collectors to source high-quality pieces from popular and established artists. From their extensive catalogue, here are six of our favourites.
Best known for his large-scale photographs, particularly of beaches, the Italian artist Massimo Vitali captures everyday life and human interaction as an integral part of the surrounding landscape. Rosignano Diptych shows the clear water and white sand of the Italian beach dotted with blankets, umbrellas and people. At first they seem like a mass of humanity, but upon closer inspection individual features and relationships appear out of the crowd.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were the famous duo behind many environmental art pieces, such as Running Fence, Valley Curtain and Surrounded Islands. Another signature conceptual form was their ‘wrapped’ series, where they concealed significant landmarks like the Reichstag in Berlin as a way to reveal the form in its entirety. Although it is more modestly proportioned, Wrapped Globe functions similarly, both concealing and revealing the entire planet.
Banksy has one of the most instantly recognisable styles of any contemporary street artist, and is admired in public settings and in galleries. Known for his subversive humour and political commentary, he is perennially popular, setting a new auction record just last year. Pulp Fiction restages the protagonists of the eponymous Quentin Terintino film, looking tough while their drawn guns have been replaced with bananas.
The American artist Kara Walker shocks and challenges audiences with her silhouettes and cutouts, which speak to the history of racism and atrocities committed against black people in the American South. Although the medium and the figures in period costume seem initially charming, on closer examination the full impact of her imagery surfaces. Both brutal and graceful, The Bush; the Skinny; and Deboning exemplifies Walker’s powerful storytelling.
An important part of the American Pop Art scene, Jim Dine has created a new vocabulary from commonplace images. Hearts are a favourite symbol, and while they are easily understood visually, their very simplicity suggests conceals layers of varied interpretation. The New Building is one such piece, with the large central heart invoking a sense of childlike innocence and nostalgia that contrasts with the deep colours and texture from the woodcut.
Born in 1931, the English artist Bridget Riley was a prominent figure in the Op Art movement of the ‘60s. Her more recent works, such as About Lilac, continue with similar experimentations of colour and abstraction. The shifting forms and patterns are inspired by landscapes and natural forms, and the dynamism of the visuals is engaging and entrancing.
Because Artsnap is a marketplace, their prices are fixed and you must act quickly if you find a piece that you like. Their entire catalogue is available online, with options for purchasing and shipping that will bring your art straight to your doorstep.
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