Contemporary artists and animals

fiona-tang.tumblr.com
What I like about this:
the size,
the trompe loeil aspect combined with rough edges,
the birds in the sky an the antlers,
and the presence of the artist,
all of which take the image out of the purely representational,
and make you think.

These four drawings are taken from Vitamin D2 new perspectives in drawing Phaedon Press London NY 2013

Richard Lewer Principle said "It's a shame because we have so many kids who do the right thing and teh school really promotes respect for each other and respect for the environment." Charcoal on museum rag board

The drawing of the wallabees is very much about the movement and aliveness of them. The drawing as a whole more stylised than realistic, showing us flat shapes of the figures animals and trees, with the strong perspective of the background focussing the eye on the animals. There is a lot of tonal range, but the animals themselves are mainly in midtones, showing that they are in their natural state, contrasting with the darkness (metaphorical and literal around them.

Beyond-ism drawing for animation
2010 Sun Xun

While this panel looks very much in a traditional chinese style it is in fact one of many drawings for a coloured animation called Beyond-ism. His subject is 'life-cycles, food chains, teeming life, all overseen by the 'magician'.

The drawings are in ink, pencil, charcoal, watercolour, and the textures and patterns worked experimentally over and over.

Here the shapes of the animals are again styised, but in an altered classical chinese style, with the emphasis on shape and texture rather than their relationship to other figures or the background.

Again, the range of tones is broad overall, but narrower within each figure. The background is highly textured in some places but not in others, possibly to represent a map of the world.

1000 years of peace 2010 Dan Beudan

This graphite drawing conveys movement en masse. It has much more realistic animals, all drawing in proportion to each other, and all stampeding in the same direction. Again the tonal range is wide, the whitest being the stripes on the zebra, and the darkest the back of one of a sea mammal. The background is textured in, indicating some kind of man-made corridor. It doesn't look peaceful at all, more as if something has frightened the animals, making us think about the reasons for this contrast between the panic and the title.

Untitled (Ridables devouring gulls) 2009 Charles Avery 

Here is movement captured in what I presume is an imaginary scene. The 'ridables' look mean, and scrawny, and vicious  -a feeling emphasised by the grimy rubbish on the beach, the ruggedness of having the rocks strewn there, and the bleak emptiness behind. The bodies of two of the ridables are off balance in mid-movement. The gulls are cut off as they try to escape, and are again drawing moving away in panic, or screaming at the scavengers. The tonal range is narrower, which adds to the grimy appearance of the thing, but is wide enough that the pure white shell in the foreground can draw the eye and symbolise something better.

I have also found some sculpture and textile art animals which I want to add here.

Talia Greene Cross-Pollination exhibition - referring to influences from different cultures on each other, visualised in terms of insects.

http://www.sfelectricworks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/
What I like - the combination of organic and non-organic shapes in a regular pattern
that is undermined in a way that has meaning.
There is also a great texture contrast between the bees and hexagons fuzziness and the wire drawing shapes of the rest.

http://cargocollective.com/yentingchung/Bird-Insect-Room
Ink, cement paint
What appeals is again the intriguing regular irregularity,
and the insect-like effect of the scratchy symbols on the back of my neck

http://www.mosaicartnow.com/2012/08/a-natural-history-museum-in-mosaic-rises-in-chile-isidora-paz-lopez/
The colours are very sunny
Lizards are intrinsically interesting creatures to look at, especially the way they move
Mosaic or blocks of colour are used here to give the impression of pattern and shading at the same time
while not having to be realistic.
Worth a try.

Cauda Equina by Keith W Bentley
from www.rust-neversleeps.blogspot.co.uk/
This one's not really about drawing, but makes me laugh.

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/gabor-miklos-szoke-wooden-slat-sculptures
What appeals - the huge size,
the way the coloured slats are placed so as to emphasise the movment of the animal

Rebecca Stevenson
from http://rebloggy.com/post/art-sculpture-animals-contemporary-art-flowers-kim-abstract-realism-contemporary/66832645838
What appeals - the combination of shapes
The seaweed/ fungus shapes being so bright and the sheep's head so realistic but the colour of wax
So skillful
Beautiful/ grotesque

Craig Waddell 2011
Beasty boy
oil on linen
from http://www.gallery9.com.au/craig-waddell-stockroom-rooster-series
Strong, loose, characterful

Above & below from
http://www.thefashionlaw.com/
alexander-mcqueen-savage-beauty/

I couldn't call myself a textile person unless I included something from Alexander McQueen exhibition Savage Beauty...animal art clothes

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pursuedbyabear/files/
2011/06/McQueenSB.jpg

What appeals? The use of fabric and paint to give the texture/shape/ emotional impact of animals and birds.