Artist of the Month: Mark Lagüe

Mark Lagüe is my current addiction, so naturally, he gets to be my featured artist this month. A Canadian who specialises in loose oils, Lagüe is obviously all about light, but its his style which I love. I am not good at loosening up so I strive to combine my own pedantic accuracy with this kind of impressionism, and I'm always on the look out for artists who've managed to combine a messy application of their medium, with a near photographic line. The last person I saw as good as this was Craig Mullins, and that was a good while ago now.

Too some degree, Lagüe is repetative but I think this is probably because of the nature of his work. He lives on the procedes of selling his paintings and his prices are pretty moderate if you ask me. In order to make enough money to live on, he must have a constant flow of orders, and in order to do this, he sticks to what sells. In his case this appears to be mostly urban street scenes, featuring plenty of yellow taxi's. Trawling through his site can be a bit tedious as a consequence, but its worth it when you come across pictures like the one below. Almost mundane in its subject, its a wealth of abstract colour, light and texture. I like it so much I have it as my desck top image at work!


Lagüe's figurative work mirrors his other images. They effortlessly combine abstract brush strokes with the interplay of light and form, allowing the eye of the observor to do all the tedious work when dark shadows or hard highlights swallow the details. To do that as Lagüe does, is not easy. Regard the legs of the girls below and consider how easily their lower limbs might lose form but for a few subtle highlights. I am inspired to the degree where I want to pick up oils again. They really are the best medium for a painter!