Top Arts Events and Artists to Look Out For in 2012

With new artists emerging on a consistent basis and shows opening practically every week, the sheer volume of all of this information can sometimes feel a tad overwhelming. Here are just a few of my personal favourite artists to look out for in the new year and one or two interesting and potentially important shows to attend.
Artists
If you know anything about me, you know that one of my philosophies for art is that it by its very nature, represents the spirit of the times. At this moment in our history, no other artist captures this sentiment better for me than Geoffrey Raymond. An American painter, born in 1953, Raymond is best known for painting controversial Wall Street CEO’s , placing the paintings in the street and asking passers by to write their opinions of the subjects onto the portraits using marker pens. After the announcement of the $85 billion bail out for insurance giant AIG back in 2008, Raymond sat outside the company head quarters with a portrait of its then CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. One person wrote, “Snarling rat bastard die! You suck. Love, Kim.” Utter genius, talk about capturing the spirit of the times. Really interesting and engaging work documenting our history.
the fallen prince. 2008. Geoffrey Raymond. Copyright the artist. image from artists blog.
Artist Rebecca Fontaine-Wolfe, whom I interviewed earlier this year, is another one to watch. She is still early in her career having graduated in 2004. Her style has been described as a fine balance between the photo realistic and expressionist. She is concerned with the female form and specifically with modern ideas of image, beauty and identity through beautiful and arresting portraits. A girl after my own heart. Her career is on the up and I think she she will grow significantly in 2012.

July. 2010. Oil, acrylic and resin on natural canvas (c) Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf

Maximillian Weidman is eccentric, witty, sarcastic and intelligent in his examination of pop culture, consumerism and the media. Again, the spirit of the times is evident in his work. He uses various media including sculpture, enamel on canvas and spray paint on canvas. One of my favourite pieces of his was a screen print entitled “Quantitative Easing.” It is made up of repeating one billion dollar bills (yes I did mean to say one BILLION dollar bills) with the following phrases written on them, “Love sucks, cash rules,” “Trust no one,” and my personal favourite, “The United States of Play.” Very Clever.
Max Wiedman. Quantitative Easing. Spray Paint and Silk Screen on Canvas. 2011. Image copyright the artist. Taken from artnet

Events
If you love art as much as I do then you simply must go and see Leonardo Da Vinci at the National Gallery. Open until February 2012, the show is the largest exhibition of Da Vinci’s surviving paintings ever exhibited. The exhibit focuses on the period when Da Vinci worked as a court painter in Milan.

Leonardo da Vinci. 1452-1519. The Virgin and Child. Copyright The State Hermitage Museaum St Petersburg

Unless you have been hiding under a bushel these last few weeks, you will be aware that the London 2012 Olympic posters were unveiled early in November. A number of British artists including Tracey Emin, Rachel Whiteread, Martin Creed, Chris Ofilli and Bridgit Riley designed the posters for the games. The opinions of the posters have been, shall we say varied, with some online commentators calling them “astoundingly bad,” and “incredibly lazy.” While I don’t personally like all of them, I think that was going a little far. Judge for yourself. The posters are currently on sale and will be shown in a special exhibition in the summer of 2012 as a part of a special advertising campaign for the games.

Chris Ofili. For the Unknown Runner. Copyright the artist. 2011

Links:
Rebecca Fontaine-Wolfe: http://www.rebeccafontaine-wolf.com/
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