Aubrey Beardsley

Writing about the 60s/70s music posters, and the Italian Medusa sculpture, I was reminded about one of my all time favourite artists and couldn't resist looking up images of his work. One in particular is the Salome piece shown above. It captures the biblical story of Salome ordering John the Baptist's head to be chopped, after he described her parents marriage as unlawful. Below is another one of his pieces, showing the intricate detail and flowing lines that I love in Beardsley's monotone pieces.

Gustav Adolph Mossa

Last summer when I visited Nice, while travelling to Italy, I discovered an artist who I'd never heard of before. Gustav Adolph Mossa's artwork was on display in the Musee des Beaux- Arts in Nice when I went, and I was amazed by the fine detail in his work. As a designer who used to paint a lot, I find his work very inspirational through his technique and style, and the themes of his artwork often very intriguing. Bellow is one of my favourite pieces of his- 'Pierrot s'en va'. Every time I look at it I want to know the story behind it- I'm not sure if I've made this up through my imagination, or whether it's the true depiction, but I think the main clown-like character has just stabbed himself, for his loss over the women in the background who he loves. This is something I certainly want to research.

Damien Hirst- my criticism

As this is a blog for our personal opinions and critical analysis, I thought I should express my log term negativity toward the work of Damien Hirst. Although I admire his in depth meaning to his pieces, and the unique solutions he creates, I hate the fact that a lot of his work he doesn't actually create. He does have the initial ideas and concepts, but then he just passes them on to someone else to implement for him, while he receives all the credit notably the various animals he preserves and displays in formaldehyde.

His work has also been criticised a lot in the press, particularly when he won the 1995 Turner Prize. The exhibition of 'Mother and Child Divided' (below), and 'Away From the Flock'. Norman Tebbit who wrote for the Sun, said "Have they gone stark raving mad? The works of the "artist" are lumps of dead animals. There are thousands of young artists who didn't get a look in, presumably because their work was too attractive to sane people. Modern art experts never learn." This is a statement that I strongly agree with- there are so many more talented artists out there.