The Legacy of Two Contemporary Art Artists
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Contemporary art artists Keith Haring and Jill Greenberg have contributed something invaluable to this generation. Their artistic styles could not be more different, yet they each manage to encapsulate something about this century that was not possible to grasp before this time period.
Haring’s biography on the Guy Hepner art gallery website sums up his life’s work in this powerful sentence: “Haring’s imagery has become a universally recognized visual language of the 20th century.” Browsing the collections on the Guy Hepner website shows the truth of this statement. Haring took the 20th century and he drew it. He drew it using figures similar to those seen in cave paintings created by ancient man. It is stark, bold, and simplistic. Yet, it tells a story. It tells the story of us from the mundane (scissors cutting ribbon) to the insane (cavorting with sea life). We revere the cave paintings our ancestors left us because they tell the story of a time that has passed us by. Centuries from now, future generations will look back on contemporary art artists like Haring and see the visual record of the 20th century.
Contemporary art artists are not limited to painting or drawing. Photography is accepted as contemporary art and Greenberg’s photographs contain something no other photographer has managed to equal: A very specialized post production lighting process. If you have never seen Greenberg’s photographs, give yourself a treat by logging on to the Guy Hepner website and finding her name in the artist section. Greenberg uses here and now technology to take her photos from great to exceptional, literally pioneering a field of post production photographic art. Future contemporary art artists may use her techniques, but only Greenberg has perfected this method and she did it during our generation.
There is more art and more contemporary art artists than a reasonable person can count. It is exciting to see the artists that not only distinguish themselves from the masses, but also leave a legacy that will endure for future generations to come.
