Searching for strengths (was The 60's Kandinsky, Klee and Dali)

[Steven Ray Shaw]

>Two artist from Canada who have also been influencd by Surrealist ideology
>are Pellan and Borduas. Both were working in Quebec in the 1940s and 1950s
>and dramatically changed the face of art during the period. If you
>areinterested in finding out more about these artists you could try
>searching looking in Ats Canada (a magazine) or try searching for
>information in your library on abstract art in Canada during the 1940s.

Thank you for the suggestions I will be sure to look up both Pellan
and Borduas.
This is very much the sort of information that I was looking
for.Artists that I have never heard of before who I can investigate to
see where they took their influence.
My point was that I was not aware of any of the contemporary artists
emerging from these roots that I have mentioned. I was not asking for
info on Kandinsky, Klee or Dali. I already know a bit about them I am
looking for other artists that I have not seen before.

>> Everything we do begins in life as a copy. I work in theatre and used
>to feel paranoid like yourself about CLICHES and COPYING. I think that
>it is wrong to worry about these things. It is important to get the mind
>and the imagination working and when it starts flowing new things can
>emerge. It is particularly useful, I find, to COPY forms which to us are
>not familiar in this way we force ourself through cliche. As humans
>evrything we do, each person, is unique. In this way it is impossible
>to COPY. It will be absolutely a part of you if it is an honest piece of
>art and in this way . . .original!

I have always copied life or worked from my imagination, but never
really attempted to copy specific styles. I didn't really know much
about specific styles until recently anyway.
This is why I am often surprised to find someone suggesting that my
work looks like someone else. I usually find this flattering, but at the
same time I want to know where they took it so I do not simply repeat
their process.

>And no, I can't think of any other artists inspired by Dali, etc.

Not a single one? Thank you for your time, we appear to be in similar
situations.

>even if others have been influenced by the same art and artists that you are,
>that's no reason to be afraid of cliches. Maybe you'll need to make a few
>cliches before you get to the heart of what it is that influences you.
>
> And one word of advice: allow yourself to be influenced, but don't
>allow yourself to be re-made. That's the tragedy of the modern artist.

>inception, and what comes from those influences *can* be judged positive or
>negative, but even THAT changes over time.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I am still searching for where
my strength lies, so more comments are clearly welcomed.

Steven

P.S. Sorry I did not give credit to quotes, but several were
personal resposes and I figure that you all know who you are anyway, and
that's what really couns I suppose.