Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa was born in Albi, Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France, the firstborn child of Comte Alphonse and Comtesse Adele de Toulouse-Lautrec. An aristocratic family (descendants of the Counts of Toulouse) that had recently fallen on hard times, the Toulouse-Lautrecs were feeling the effects of the inbreeding of past generations; the Comte and Comtesse themselves were first cousins, and Henri suffered from a number of congenital health conditions attributed to this tradition of inbreeding (see below). A younger brother was born to the family on 28 August 1867, but died the following year.

Disability
At the age of 13 Henri fractured his left thigh bone, and at 14, the right. The breaks did not heal properly. Modern physicians attribute this to an unknown genetic disorder, possibly pycnodysostosis (also sometimes known as Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome), or a variant disorder along the lines of osteopetrosis, achondroplasia, or osteogenesis imperfecta. Rickets aggravated with praecox virilism has also been suggested. His legs ceased to grow, so that as an adult he was only 1.54 m (5 ft 1 in) tall, having developed an adult-sized torso, while retaining his child-sized legs, which were 0.70 m (27.5 in) long. He is also reported to have had hypertrophied genitals.
Physically unable to participate in most of the activities typically enjoyed by men of his age, Toulouse-Lautrec immersed himself in his art. He became an important Post-Impressionist painter, art nouveau illustrator, and lithographer; and recorded in his works many details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris. Toulouse-Lautrec also contributed a number of illustrations to the magazine Le Rire during the mid-1890s.

Paris

Party In The Moulin Rouge

Toulouse-Lautrec was drawn to Montmartre, an area of Paris famous for its bohemian lifestyle and for being the haunt of artists, writers, and philosophers. Tucked deep into Montmartre was the garden of Monsieur Pere Foret where Toulouse-Lautrec executed a series of pleasant plein-air paintings of Carmen Gaudin, the same red-head model who appears in The Laundress (1888). When the nearby Moulin Rouge cabaret opened its doors, Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to produce a series of posters. Thereafter, the cabaret reserved a seat for him, and displayed his paintings. Among the well-known works that he painted for the Moulin Rouge and other Parisian nightclubs are depictions of the singer Yvette Guilbert; the dancer Louise Weber, known as the outrageous La Goulue ("The Glutton"), who created the "French Can-Can"; and the much more subtle dancer Jane Avril.
Toulouse-Lautrec spent much time in brothels, where he was accepted by the prostitutes and madams to such an extent that he often moved in, and lived in a brothel for weeks at a time. He shared the lives of the women who made him their confidant, painting and drawing them at work and at leisure. Lautrec recorded their intimate relationships, which were often lesbian. A favourite model was a red-haired prostitute called Rosa la Rouge from whom he allegedly contracted syphilis.
Toulouse-Lautrec gave painting lessons to Suzanne Valadon, one of his models (and possibly his mistress as well).
An alcoholic for most of his adult life, Toulouse-Lautrec was placed in a sanatorium shortly before his death. He died from complications due to alcoholism and syphilis at the family estate in Malrome, fewer than three months before his 37th birthday. He is buried in Verdelais, Gironde, a few kilometers from the Chateau of Malrome, where he died.
Toulouse-Lautrec's last words reportedly were: "Le vieux con!" ("Old fool!")

Fred Tomaselli

Fred Tomaselli (b. 1956) is celebrated for the ecstatic fantasies he presents in his pictures—explosions of color, laced with art-historical references, that both invite transcendence and hint at the more toxic, monstrous visions that can accompany quests for the sublime.
He uses a range of techniques, including collage, painting and glazing, to make his highly decorative pictures that are often described as psychedelic—particularly since he has infamously included pills and marijuana leaves among his collage materials (which once led to his works being detained by customs officials in France).
Indeed, Tomaselli—who has said his involvement with “stoner” culture in his youth has been an important influence on his art—creates works that act very much like a drug, but one that alters a viewer’s consciousness via the eyes rather than chemistry.
Today, the outdoor-loving Tomaselli, who says he hasn’t used LSD in over 25 years, incorporates pressed leaves from his Brooklyn garden in his works, in addition to his signature elements—images of flora, fauna and human body parts cut out of magazines, field guides and catalogues (in addition to actual insects and flowers).

ME

     Out of all the artists living today I would have to say I like myself the best. I'm not saying that I have reached my full potiental, no far from it, or am I saying that I have sold more art work than other artists or for as much money (though I have outsold Van Gough while he was alive). No my reasoning is than if I and any other artist were drowning and I had a choice to save only one of us I would save me. Sorry to the other artists who might be reading this, but I'm sure you would make the same choice.
     I have been painting since I was very young. My parents still display an oil painting I did when I was 10 proudly along side other more mature and acomplished work, of course they ARE my parents, but on the other hand how many people who display drawings their kids did 40 yrs after the fact.

     I have gone through many reincarnations of myself as an artist and I now find myself interested in perusuing a quasi-abstract style that allows me to do my prelim's on photo's I have taken in photoshop before applying them to canvas. displayed here in my blog you will see some of the images I plan on painting in the next year or so (maybe) 

Robert Williams

Robert Williams (born March 2, 1943) is an American painter, cartoonist, and founder of Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine.^[1]
Williams was part of the Zap Collective,^[2] along with other underground cartoonists such as Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton. His mix of California car culture, cinematic apocalypticism, and film noir helped to create a new genre of psychedelic imagery.

Williams began the magazine "JUXTAPOZ" in 1994 which propelled to fame many new artists and rose to become one of the highest circulated art magazines. 1997 saw the release of the to-date retrospective "Malicious Resplendence" as well as a one-man show at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York. Two more Shafrazi shows followed in 2000 and 2003. These works were published in "Through Prehensile Eyes" in 2005. 2007 saw Williams as a featured interviewee in the movies "Independents" and "The Treasures of Long Gone John" as well as a collaboration with Vans for their Vans Vault limited edition sneakers line. The popularity of the shoes would lead to more collaborations including hand painted sneakers. In his 2008 lecture at the Oakland Museum of California, Williams states:

"The Art movement I go by is Conceptual Realism."

Of his paintings, Williams states:

"My paintings are not designed to entertain you, they are meant to trap you, to hold you before them while you try to rationalize what elements of the picture are making you stand there."

Williams released several more books as his work progressed in style, size, and content. His paintings have moved from the realms of zombie sex to quantum mechanics and command sold out shows on both coasts as well as a demand around the world. He has influenced generations of artists and has given them a voice through publications that feature Underground/Lowbrow works of art like ART? Alternatives in 1992, and later, JUXTAPOZ. Williams has also participated with other artists in such ventures as "The Art Boys" which included such notable members as Gary Panter, Matt Groening, The PIZZ, Mike Kelley, Neon Park, and Mark Mothersbaugh.^[4][5][6] Other known collectors and contemporaries include Nicolas Cage, Timothy Leary, Debbie Harry, Anthony Kiedis, Von Dutch, Artie Shaw, Stanislav Szukalski, Ed Ruscha, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The antics of Coochy Cooty and paintings like "Oscar Wilde In Leadville" and "Appetite for Destruction", which was featured as the cover for the Guns N' Roses album of the same name, before controversy forced record company Geffen Records to move it to the inside sleeve, have raised many an eyebrow. Here is his response from a 1992 interview:

"I do not believe that my representation of females aids in their oppression. It is my artistic right to render the images of woman as my imagination sees fit. Remember, I will gladly accept the title "Bad Person" to continue my expression. In other words, nothing short of death will stop me from painting nekkid ladies..."

In the late 1960s, while doing advertisements and graphics for Roth, Williams was also a productive oil painter. It was during this period that he was creating his "Super Cartoon" paintings. Including "Appetite For Destruction" and "In The Land Of Retinal Delights" these paintings were meticulously created in the style of the Old Masters including hand-made paints and multiple layers of varnish. These works sold well but were very time consuming to produce, sometimes taking over a year to complete. Many of these paintings were owned by Williams' patron, James Bruckner Jr., and were on permanent display at the Movie World Cars of the Stars Museum.^[3]
As Roth's studio came to a close Williams joined the ZAP Comix collective of artists and flourished in the non-conformist, anti-establishment movement with fellow malcontents R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Rick Griffin, Gilbert Shelton, and Victor Moscoso. In 1969 he created his seminal Underground Comix anti-hero, Coochy Cooty. His creation was unleashed in 1970 in Coochy Cooty Men's Comics and ZAP Comix #5 and is still alive today in Williams' oil paintings