Saturday, November 5, 2011

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round 1: Appel v. Archipenko

Karel Appel
1921 - 2006
Dutch; worked internationally





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Alexander Archipenko
1887 - 1964
Ukranian; worked in France and the United States.




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Vote for the artist of your choice!  Votes go in the comments.  Commentary and links to additional work are welcome.  Polls open for one month past posting.

16 comments:

Rebel said...

Archipenko - very beautiful, very funky.

I don't like the first guy because the first picture scared/disturbed me and the second painting made me feel silly for being scared by the first. A bit creepy actually.

dhkendall said...

Echo Rebel. Archipennko (those sculptures are kind of nice!)

Elizabeth said...

The Appel works perfectly express my state of mind right now, so I'm voting for him. Not altogether impressed with the sculptures in any event, though they'd look good as pieces of public art downtown, and much better than the weird black/gold woman-and-dog thing at 6th and Main for sure. I really hate that one.

http://culturenow.org/entry&permalink=06579&seo=City-Reflections_Patti-Warashina-and-City-of-Portland-and-Multnomah-County-Public-Art-Collection-courtesy-of-the-Regional-Arts--Culture-Council

Nichim said...

Appel. Colorful owls for the win. Sculpture is a hard sell for me in general, and cubist sculpture is ick to my aesthetics.

Morgan said...

Archipenko.

Maybe I don't really get art, but Appel looks kinda like stuff I could do. Maybe that means I could be an internationally renowned Dutch artist! Or not.

Archipenko I like, though. Not as much the second one, but I think the first one has class.

Elaine said...

Appel!
I love the second guy, but oh those great colors and images...

Candida said...

Archipenko.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

I vote for the last one. She's knocking me out with those American thighs.

mrs.5000 said...

Well, neither of these completely float my boat, but I'll go with the solid cubist Archipenko. Though had he worked in wood and let Appel paint his sculptures, I think that might have been kinda sweet.

Ben said...

Archipenko. I'll echo Morgan's comments and say that, despite taking the Art History survey in college, I still don't get why pictures that look like they were done by a 2nd grader can be considered fine art.

Michael5000 said...

Like many of you, I'm not really feeling either artist -- despite quite liking Cubism and more or less understanding the like-they-were-done-by-a-second-grader thing. I guess I'll roll with Dr. Ken and cast my vote for Archipenko and the American thighs.

lamanyana said...

Appel - I'm actually quite fond of those, but it sounds like I'm in the minority. As for Archipennko, I guess I've never really understood cubist sculpture - it's always seemed to me like the most compelling part of cubism is how it tries to represent multiple views of a 3 dimensional object in 2 dimensions, so when you move beck into 3 dimensions I get confused.

Michael5000 said...

laman: Dang, interesting point.

Voron X said...

Archipenko. Even if I've done paintings/drawings that resemble Appel's first one.

pfly said...

Throwing my lot in with Appel.

Voron X said...

This is Voron writing for Mrs. X. she likes "The one with the pretty girls.". so, another vote for Archipenko.