Prompt: Artists who are important to me.

I should start by listing the art MOVEMENTS that inspire me; I'm also an art history major for a reason, and I draw a lot of content and iconography directly from my studies. So: most periods of ancient art, but especially Greco-roman and Egyptian; Medieval artwork, Northern and Italian Renaissance, Dadaism, Impressionism, Surrealism, a little bit of the Baroque, and recently dynastic Chinese wall and scroll paintings (I have only recently begun an extremely informal study of these, and thus cannot break them down into more concise groups than that.) 

From those movements, I draw methods of narrative storytelling, codifying iconographies, visual shorthands of the past, a certain irreverence for the way Things Are Done (thank you, dadaism), and ways of visualizing space (both conventional perspective and Very Much Not.)

Ai Weiwei, mostly because I admire the courage and spirit that it takes, to call for governmental transparency. I also admire the sentiment behind breaking ancient pottery from china-- though this may be more my response than anything he intended-- that our histories do not have to dictate the course of our futures, and that we can use old materials or objects or ideas to make statements relevant to our lives now.

Van Gogh, because he achieves a unity of color and line that I strive for, for pursuing art even when it made him no money, for translating the world as he saw it and not as it was, and for a series of quotes from letters he sent that inspire me.

Basquiat, for color, fearlessness, horror vacui, and inserting words into his compositions. He also painted on doors or whatever else he could find, when he couldn't afford canvases, and I admire that.

Trenton Doyle Hancock, for color, horror vacui, playing with text and words in meaningful ways, and (most importantly) narrative. In interviews he mentions his complicated narrative, which he has been developing for years. My work is about narrative and my characters have iconographies, as his do, so I can learn from that as a means to convey visual narrative from a more modern source. 

Wangetchi Mutu, for her fearless challenges to problematic aspects of our society (the sorts of exploitations that come from a global culture, beauty ideals, perception of women, postimperialism), and for her huge collages, which use found imagery and textures she's painted herself. 

Jan Van Eyck, prominent northern renaissance artist, for heavy detail, iconography so thick it literally occupies the entire careers of professional art historians, the selective use of linear perspective. Also this image of Gabriel is my favorite image of the angel Gabriel in the art of this period; I just love his colorful wings. 

Lious Wain, for being well ahead of his time in the creation of these psychedelic cats, and for being what is likely an example of an artist misunderstood by history (he is thought to have produced the colorful cats as his schizophrenia worsened with age, but the colorful cats appeared throughout his career, and thus it is unlikely to have been tied to mental illness. I haven't done enough research to make more than a preliminary argument, though.) Regardless, creating form through pattern is relevant to my work.

Ralph steadman, for harnessing frenetic energy and linework and using it as a means of making a point and telling clear narratives, and for not shying away from thick bold marks and ugly representations, but rather jumping into them and reveling in it.