Dadaism

Dada or Dadaism was an artistic and literary movement that started in Europe when World War I was raging on. Because of the war, artists and writers, many from France and Germany, moved to Switzerland, which was neutral in the war. Instead of being relieved that they had escaped, they were furious with the modern society. So, they decided to show their protest through art. They decided to create non-art since art in the society anyway had no meaning.

These so-called non-artists turned to creating art that had soft obscenities, humor, puns and everyday objects. The most controversial painting was by Marcel Duchamp, he painted a mustache on a copy of the Mona Lisa and scribbled obscenities under it. He also created a sculpture called Fountain, which was just a urinal without the fittings and a fake signature.

The public was shocked and disgusted by the movement. However, the Dadaists found this encouraging. And, slowly the movement spread from Zurich to other parts of the world. Just as many mainstream artists were thinking about this movement seriously, the Dada movement dissolved in the early 1920s.

Josh Nizzi

After graduating from the University of Illinois, Josh Nizzi was hired by Volition, Inc. to work on Red Faction 1, Red Faction 2 and The Punisher. Moving on to Day 1 Studios he worked on Mech Assault 2 and Fracture. Josh then became a freelance artist and in 2007 his concept design for a Transformers called Long haul caught the attention of Hasbro's design director Aaron Archer who wanted him to do concepts for a Un-named Transformers sequel and not long after he was hired by Michael Bays studio as a concept artist for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Since then he has worked on the other Transformers sequels and also for some of the Movies in Marvels Cinematic Universe such as the Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Josh_Nizzi
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/540/#.VUNcYq6GBl0

Francesca Matthews

Francesca Matthews aka Pythos, is a concept artist best known for her well-loved and technically masterful portrayal of Dragons of Videogames art-prints on Gametee.co.uk with AJ Hateley. This work brings a touch of drama and fantasy using a Victorian Science art style. Along with the Dragons of Videogames series she also does her own concept art foe videogames and does commissions. She was previously a student at  SCAD Savannah, she lives in North Carolina and is a regular exhibitor at US conventions. Her work is inspired by video games and the fantasy books that she has loved and read since childhood. 

The Festival of Britain

The Festival of Britain was in the summer of 1951 and celebrated the UK's recovery after the Second World War. Although it was a national festival, London was at its heart. The most important site was the South Bank of the Thames at Lambeth. Here, an area of old Victorian industrial buildings and railway sidings was transformed into the site of the South Bank exhibition. New buildings were built to house exhibitions exploring Britain's landscape, the British character, British industry and science. The buildings included a new concert hall - the Royal Festival Hall, the Dome of Discovery and the Skylon. The only existing building incorporated into the site was a tall brick shot tower, built in the early 19th century to make lead shot by dropping molten lead from a height. For the festival, it was used to house a large radio telescope and transmitter.Although the Festival took pride in Britain's past, most of the exhibits looked to the future. Science and technology featured strongly. In one of the pavilions, many Londoners saw their first ever television pictures. The festival also took place on other sites in London such as Battersea Park where a large funfair built. In Poplar, east London, a new housing estate was built as a 'live architecture exhibition', a kind of model village. The Lansbury Estate was designed to incorporate all the latest thinking about architecture, planning and communities. Over the summer, the Festival of Britain was everywhere: in shops, events, exhibitions, radio programmes and concert halls. The Trinidadian All Steel Percussion Orchestra came to play in London which was the first time steel pan music had been played formally in the capital. Although most of the festival structures were demolished at the end of 1951, the Royal Festival Hall was retained. It became the first in a group of arts-related buildings on the South Bank that, by the end of the century, included the National Theatre and the National Film Theatre.

http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/festival-britain-1951

David Wyatt

Wyatt is an English commercial artist born in Northampton where as a child his interest in reading and drawing led to a love of comics. He has worked with many different media from paint to sculpture. He is well known for his book covers and illustrations for authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Reeve, Terry Pratchett, and Philip Pullman. And also works on album covers for bands, Games and beer labels. He was trying to make a career for himself in music but after an unsuccessful band tour he decided that it wasn't for him. He got his first work creating the occasional page for the British comic 2000 AD while at college in reading. He now mainly works from his computer in Dartmoor, Devon using the landscapes for some of his inspiration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wyatt

Corita Kent

Corita Kent or Sister Mary Corita Kent was born in Fort Dodge in 1918.  She took the name Sister Mary Corita in 1936 when she joined Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She worked nearly entirely with silkscreen. She took classes at Otis and Chouinard Art Institute and then earned a BA from Immaculate Heart College. She worked in the Immaculate Heart Community and became the chair of the Immaculate Heart College art department. She Left the Sisters and devoted the rest of her life to creating artwork. She created many hundreds of posters, book covers and murals using silkscreen. She died in 1986 from cancer and her work can still be seen in art museums, which include The Whitney, The Museum of fine arts in Boston, the Metropolitan museum of art in New York and The Corita Art Center located on the campus of the Immaculate Heart High School.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corita_Kent

Constructivism

Constructivism was the last and most influential modern art movement to flourish in Russia in the 20th century. It evolved just as the Bolsheviks came to power in the October Revolution of 1917, and initially it acted as a lightning rod for the hopes and ideas of many of the most advanced Russian artists who supported the revolution's goals. It borrowed ideas from Cubism, Suprematism and Futurism, but at its heart was an entirely new approach to making objects, one which sought to get rid of the traditional artistic concern with composition, and replace it with 'construction.' Ultimately, the movement foundered in trying to make the transition from the studio to the factory. Some continued to insist on the value of abstract, analytical work, these artists had a major impact on spreading Constructivism throughout Europe. Meanwhile, others pushed on to a new but short-lived and disappointing phase known as Productivism, in which artists worked in industry. Russian Constructivism was in decline by the mid 1920s, partly a victim of the Bolshevik regime's increasing hostility to avant-garde art.

 

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-constructivism.htm#