Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round FOUR: Balla v. Basquiat!

The Fourth Round of the Infinite Art Tournament gets underway with a battle between the beginning and end of the 20th century!

Giacomo Balla
1871-1958
Italian

Defeated Hans Baldung in Round 1
Edged by Balthus in Round 2 by a single vote.  YOUR VOTE COUNTS! 
Got by John James Audubon in Round 3.









Jean-Michel Basquiat
1960 - 1986
American

Defeated Georg Baselitz in Round 1
Decisively defeated Italian master Jacopo Bassano in Round 2.
Beat German artist Max Beckman in Round 3.








Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Fourth-round matches are open for at least three months after posting.

18 comments:

Morgan said...

The start of the Sexy Sixty-Four! And both of these artists are pretty great. I am going to have to go with Balla. The energy seems to burst out of the art.

Elizabeth said...

After Morgan's erudite comment, I'm rather ashamed to say that I'm voting for Balla only because those works disturb me less than the others.

Christine M. said...

Basquiat

Leonardo Piccioni said...

Balla.

Jenners said...

Balla

Nichim said...

Ooph, this is getting tough. I continue with my strategy of going with my gut on the basis of the works presented, even when the results conflict with my preconceptions. So: Balla.

pfly said...

Balla for me, easy.

mrs.5000 said...

I too am for Balla.

Chuckdaddy said...

A super-tough one for me; I've voted for both every time thus far. I feel Balla's consistently cooler but Basquiat is occasionally awesome (I think I need to work on my art-critic lingo). I'll slightly lean Basquiat.

Michael5000 said...

A slam dunk for me; I'd vote for Balla over most, and I'd vote for almost anyone over Basquiat.

lamanyana said...

Difficult - like others said. I think I'm leaning Basquiat, though.

Mm Mud said...

My page opened up with the gorgeous orange glow pic of Balla and made me go wow! Basquiat has some pop culture appeal but I'm voting Balla because his late19th/early20th century work still feels new.

G said...

This one is way too hard.

Michael5000 said...

A vote-by-mail for Balla, with an expression of disbelief that Basquiat snuck past Max Beckmann.

Candida said...

Balla still makes me shudder--like aesthetic corduroy or something--but although I like Basquiat's colors, I just can't do it. An unenthusiastic vote for Balla.

Alison said...

Balla! His work draws the eye really well or something

Voron X said...

Balla - And I agree - Basquiat should have fallen to Beckmann.

Michael5000 said...

Basquiat's run ends pretty abruptly here, as Balla rolls right over him and rolls on to the semi-finals with a voting total of 13-3. Thanks for voting, mostly in 2012!