Fine arts artist from the 19th century

Gustave Courbet.

Impressionist/Realist.

In most of his paintings, he aimed to depict the customs, ideas and appearance of lifetime using any scenes from everyday life in a frank and rough style by applying direct observation to his subject selection.

Light and movement were the major factors in impressionist composition, just like The Calm Sea (above).

Vincent Van Gogh

The man who cchanged the way how a flower should look like. 

Van gogh's sunflowers uses an impressive range of techniques, from tiny pointillist dots to thick sculptural strokes. He also break some of the cardinal rules of painting from the time. 

The colour theories followed by the impressionists dictated that to intensify colours, one should place opposing colours next to each other. 

Van gogh experimented with putting a sunflower against a blue background but his later versions have yellow flowers in a yellow vase on a yellow table, against a yellow wall and yet the picture seems to radiate light. 

He was not trying to make an exact copy of reality in his paintings. He did not use colour merely to imitate nature but to express emotion. 

Michaelangelo

Michaelangelo.

He, who lives with a philosophy of dual allegiance to nature and beauty, the importance of the idea, freedom to break rules and the role of sculpture as a model for his art.

In the sculpture rule, it had always been that a man should be 8 heads tall. That is the precise measurement from top of the head to the chin which is used to establish the line of pectoral muscles, the navel, the groin, halfway to the foot and finally to the ground. 

This tend to create monotomy of design and also fell into the mistake of thinking that there was an 'ideal' set of human proportion. 

Michaelangelo was indifferent to proportion. Eventhough he was a realist, he used proportion as he saw fit. While women were supposed to be 7 heads high, he made it 9. 

The purpose of elongating figures was for the effect. 

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol. 

He was interested in institutional collecting. Andy revolutionized art exhibition practices with Raid The Icebox. The tittle of the show was a pun referring to many museums' cold storage areas, filled with objects that the public could not see. 

He created a thoroughly unconventional set of displays. Paintings were placed on the floor, leaning against walls and some are stacked up. While the shoes were exhibited in a large cabinet, free to be touched. 

This radical display broke the institutional rules about the display and value of certain objects over others in a museum environment. 

Usually in museums, attention was given to all kinds of objects. He have successfully displayed the fashions of culture along with the art. 

A group of french artist (Impressionists)

The impressionists broke the rule of conventional art when they were expected to abide to the rules that had been followed for centuries. Who are these impressionists?

They are a group of young talented artist who came together with a purpose of creating a different art. They painted something they saw for the first time- their first impression of things.

Initially their art was considered so different that it was mocked by art critics and was not accepted by the Academie. Artist under the influence of the Academie had edges lines and smooth texture on canvas, showing no brush strokes at all.

Their canvas were usually dark coloured and colours were unadventurous, creating a dismal scene.

This group of impressionists broke all the rules and did the complete opposite in every way. Instead, this fresh artist used a full spectrum pallet which means no black and brown.

They only focused on using light, nature colours, white as the background and did not blend colours in an attempt to make the painting more vibrant and interesting.

The impressionists came together in Paris, Batignolles, a place where people who had flair in art would gather. Artist like Claudes Monet, famous for landscape painting, came along with other famous artist like Paule Lezanne, Camille Pissaro and Alfred Sisley.

Together they went against the approval of the Academie. Their group was then called "Sociate Anonyme des artistes" with a purpose to allow artist to go by their own rules and not to worry about the "interference of a jury".

Edouard Manet's, one of the impressionists, artwork. His painting was a departure from the rules.

The rules said: show no brushstrokes yet the impressionists flaunted theirs. The rules said: paint indoors, in a studio but the impressionists took their rainbow palettes and canvases into the open air and painted from real life. 

 Pablo Picasso.

A master of art at the age of 15.

Great sculptor too. 

(Died at age 91) 

He was well-known for his love on expanding numerous art forms. In 1907, Pablo broke all the rules that those 'artistically right' people learned in the art academy.

He started and created an entirely new forms of art. He disposed of three-dimensional perspective, abandoned harmonious proportion, used distortion and borrowed from the art of primitive culture.

  

Even a French critic slammed him with a harsh comment that Pablo would one day commit suicide for the shame he had brought on the art eestablishment.

Clearly shown in the paintings above, Pablo wanted to portray his fear for women through the knife-like shape of the women's figure. 

Pablo had left a poignant memory in the art industry and he would always be remembered. Afterall, Pablo only wanted to show everyone that they can do whatever they want without having the fear of being judged. He had left us with a strong, deep and inspirational quote which goes "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist."

Samantha Lo (Sticker Lady)

 An inspirational local street artist. 

Samantha Lo, aged 25.

She's a local street artist whom I strongly feel that she should get all due respect and recognition towards her determination to continually uphold the culture of our country. 

 Rules she broke? 

Circular stickers with singlish-influenced phrases (some in spray paint) were pasted and painted in public spaces like Maxwell Road and Robinson Road and other public properties in 2012. As a result, she had to serve 240 hours of community service. 

When she was asked as of why she did those things, she answered willingly that she wanted to show that Singaporeans are unique and our culture should be appreciated. This proactive attitude of hers does not come as a surprise. 

Most people supported her act and pleaded for a lighter punishment for her. Soon, people started to accept her work as most of her work are now displayed at Sentosa(pictures above)tourist attraction. 

When she was asked why she chose a tourist spot and what if the tourist dislike her work, she answered calmly that the objective is to be proud of the Singapore's culture and she directed a question back to them, "Why should we adjust for them?"

Habit

"Wearing my earpiece when I'm alone." 

I don't engage in a conversation that well. Perhaps this is one of the reason how such habit stick to me for so long. When I'm alone, I don't like having interactions with people. So, by wearing a earpiece, I hope that people would actually mind their own business. 

I came up with solution to stop this habit by asking several people. A few people urge me to stop as I might lose concentration to important events happening. 

However when I started to stop such habit, somehow I am a more observant person. For instance, I care more about the ongoing things around me. I notice interesting landmarks when I'm on my way to my destination. Apart from it, I am also able to be aware of certain significant events that is occuring at the particular time. 

Afterall, leaving a habit did do me good. It raise a benefit for myself which make myself an even better person.