People often ask me, "Bill, if you could be any other artist from history, who would you be?". Actually, no-one's ever asked me that. It's a device I just made up to introduce this bit. The answer to that question, anyway, would currently be "Odilon Redon".
He was a French artist (1840-1916) who is generally described as a Symbolist painter. However, like most good or great artists he doesn't really fit in that category, or rather, expands beyond it. His early work was mostly if not all monochrome, only discovering saturated, emotionally dense color later in life.
His work, like mine, deals largely with mythologies -- classical & personal. His inventions run the gamut from beautiful to grotesque (whatever those terms mean). His graphical sense rivaled anyone, and his use of color rivaled Matisse or Bonnard.
The Wikipedia entry on Redon is unusually extensive, especially in the generous amount of images of his work provided. It's well worth checking out, if you're not familiar with this marvelous (in the true sense of the word) artist.
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