The contemporary artist I chose to research is Jeremy Mann. He received a BFA from Ohio University and an MFA from Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Mann is 37 years old and currently resides in California.

He is a painter known for his painterly, impressionist-inspired style, cityscapes, and figurative works. Although his figurative works get less media attention compared to his cities, I still find that his style translates in an interesting way when it comes to the figure. He is strong in areas where I am weak, such as uses looser styles to convey form and feeling. Therefore, I find that his work really helps me think through problems I have while creating works. I also am drawn to the color palettes he chooses to work with in each image. I mentally group his images by color.

Jeremy Mann. Fawn. Oil on Panel.

In his cityscapes, he tries to capture the city, in many cases San Francisco, as dramatic and moody. He puts an emphasis on wet pavement in his city images. In a documentary about him, he talks about how the number of cars on wet pavement he painted is sickening, but that all those years of training led him to be able to make the right mark for each painting now. I always get attached to artists that openly talk about the time spend training and learning when it comes to their craft.

Jeremy Mann. New York no. 11. Oil on panel. 48×48 inches.

I find his techniques interesting. He uses loose brushstrokes, will wipe off materials, and also will roll paint onto the canvas. He does things with paint that I would not think to do and did not think would yield the results that it does. I think his style is great, although one person has gone through YouTube videos involving him and claimed that he just copies everything from images edited with a specific Photoshop tool. Mann also works slightly large with most works (in regards to his cities) being around four and five feet wide.

Jeremy Mann. Evening Storm on Market Street. Oil on panel. 60×43 inches.