Jack Vettriano

[djd]

He's been hugely popular in the UK for some years lord-k. Largely as a result of his work being used on a large number of greetings cards and then posters and other 'popular' graphics. If you have a look on amazon there are quite a few books available of his collected works

 

[Mario]

A little OT:

I just took the 'Bluebird at Bonneville' image and turned it into a desktop wallpaper by blowing it up and giving it a bit of extra treatment in Photoshop. I use a 1600x1200 resolution on my trusty old SGI CRT monsters. Now I'm wondering - and not for the first time - :what's the most common screen resolution people are using these days? 1024x768? 1280x800? [huh]

 

[Anthony K]

I've always loved his work. He is definitely one of my favorite modern artists.

 

[lord_k]

He's been hugely popular in the UK for some years lord-k. Largely as a result of his work being used on a large number of greetings cards and then posters and other 'popular' graphics. If you have a look on amazon there are quite a few books available of his collected works

Of course I ran to the search engine right out of this thread and found tons of Vettriano on the Web. I wonder how could I ignore his works dealing with more or less similar kind of stuff for years.

 

[Mario]

It's funny that I've never known about the turmoil surrounding his work. Well, I couldn't care less. I actually regard the arts establishment as a whole as absolutely redundant and most of its members as dispensable lowlifes. File under 'Things I can do without'.

 

[djd]

I quite agree. I find the vast majority of modern art and art critics a serious case of the emperors new clothes.... If no one outside the art establishment likes or understands it what is the point?

 

[Richard Warren]

The idea of an art establishment is kind of intriguing. Since in these post Post Modern times any common standards for judgment would have to be thrown out the window, the only point of such an establishment would seem to be mutual promotion of its members, and the expression of fashionable attitudes.

Mr. Vettriano's time will surely come.

 

[djd]

Lol. I'm sure Mr Vetriano doesn't give a hoot anymore as he's commercially hugely successful. I imagine that's one of the reasons he's looked down upon too

His work is nice to look at, stylish and often gets your imagination going trying to build a narrative around whatever scene is depicted. That's everything I want from my art to be honest!

 

[Mario]

His work is nice to look at, stylish and often gets your imagination going trying to build a narrative around whatever scene is depicted. That's everything I want from my art to be honest!

Do you mean to say that there doesn't necessarily need to be some kind of impalpable, hermetic subtext to art? :eeek:

 

[djd]

Not for me- call me shallow!

 

[feltfan]

Interesting to see. The subject matter is vintage but the style is so quintessentially 80s.
To my eyes jarring.

I like the Bonneville painting, but the rest don't do it for me. Thanks for sharing, though.
Had only seen one of these before (I think someone uses one as an avatar image here?).

 

[Widebrim]

There are a lot of people of Italian descent in Scotland . As far as I remember Vetriano was his mothers maiden name and not jacks birth name

That's surprising, at least to a Yank like me. Can't imagine a lot of Italians wanting to move to Scotland, but, hey...At any rate, I do like his style...

 

[djd]

Yes it does seem like a strange place to end up! I think the biggest influx was at the time of WW1.

 

[adouglasmhor]

Yes it does seem like a strange place to end up! I think the biggest influx was at the time of WW1.

There was a big influx in the 1890s as well. There are loads of Italian surnames around, I have cousins called Bonacorsi.

 

[djd]

I know they used to be big into the ice-cream industry in Glasgow. Is that still the case?

 

[Tomasso]

Yes it does seem like a strange place to end up!

Just as odd are all the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans in NYC. Seriously, you leave a balmy Caribbean island to settle there when there's a place called Florida......

 

[adouglasmhor]

I know they used to be big into the ice-cream industry in Glasgow. Is that still the case?

Ice Cream and fish and chip shops and cafês was the old way. Now you find Italian descended Scots in Law, Media and government amongst other places. Not to mention Lou Macari, Man United, Celtic and Stoke legend - who did come from an Ice cream shop owning family.

 

[Tomasso]

Now you find Italian descended Scots in Law, Media and government

Such a shame to see them sink to such depths.....

 

[adouglasmhor]

Such a shame to see them sink to such depths.....

LOL. Good one.

 

[nicholasb]

I am not a Vettriano fan. His paintings do not appeal to me whatsoever. I love Edward Hopper's work and can't imagine how you would like the two. I mention it because i have heard them compared, which to me is strange.

I know a lot of people like Jack Vettriano and there is no such thing as bad art if someone likes it and wants it on their wall.

djd mentioned the pictures triggering the imagination to build a narrative around each scene. Its interesting because I would say that about Hopper but not Vettriano.

Just posting this for a different viewpoint.