I'm pretty big into modern art.. but mostly more interested in the stories and how the artist developed.
Guess what? Its fucking story time!!!!!
For example, Vincent Van Goghs story I've always enjoyed. Can't remember all the details as I haven't revisited it in a while, but it's interesting to see how his life developed and then was portrayed through his art. If you look at the wikipedia page
Vincent van Gogh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You can see the paintings he did through his life. For example, in his earlier years, you can see that his paintings were dark and gloomy. My favorite being "Skull of skeleton with a burning cigarette". The dark colors supposedly reflect his depression and hatred for where he was living. It rained a bunch and what not. Then as you can see when he moved to Paris, his paintings became brighter and more vibrant. Most of his paintings have some story tied to them which is pretty interesting. Another one that is interesting is "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" who was his personal physician. If you check it out, you can see he is holding a plant, called the fox glove. The foxglove in the painting is a plant from which digitalis is extracted for the treatment of certain heart complaints. His doctor prescribed it to him based on his conditions. What has really happened though was that he was suffering conditions due to Absinthe. He fucking loved that shit, and unlike today, it contained a chemical that caused hallucinogens and what not. You can Absinthe in a bunch of his paintings. Anyways, back to the story, That plant that his doctor prescribed, actually caused a digitalis poisoning, which causes a various cerebral disturbances, especially of a visual nature (unusual colour visions with objects appearing yellowish to green, and blue halos around lights). Hence if you go to the section that talks about his paintings later in life, you will see he uses a lot more hues of yellow. It was because of that planet, that his paintings changed so drastically.
And there you have it kids, a moment in time.
On a side note, when he was buried, the plant from which absinthe comes from, was placed on top due to his love for it. When his brother, Theo died, the family wanted them to be placed together in the same burial. So when they went to dig up Vincent Van Gogh, his entire body was wrapped in the roots of the plant and so once again it fucked him.
Oh also, his last painting, the crow in the fields or something like that, supposedly that is a depiction of his suicide as he shot himself in a field, however people argue that he didn't commit suicide.
Oh and for artist I currently like, pretty big into David Choe shit.
