Vassilis Solidakis, 1948 | Figurative Expressionist painter

Βασίλης Σολιδάκης was born in Sitia of the Island of Crete, Greece. He boasts to be an 'Eteocris', who is considered to be the indigenous people of Crete with roots in the Minoan period.

Solidakis received training in painting since 1968 and continued his studies in the period 1973-1985 with Dimitris Perdikidis in Madrid, Spain.

He had his first solo exhibition in 1978 in Athens. More one-man and group shows followed in Greece and abroad.

Jonathan Wolstenholme, 1950 | The Surreal books

Jonathan Wolstenholme is an British painter and illustrator best known for his amazingly detailed works deriving from a love of old books.

Books on Books is a series of illustrations in which the book world is being described by… the books. Jonathan has had three one-man shows in London and has exhibited at the Singer and Friedlander Exhibition several times, also at the Discerning Eye Competition at the Mall Galleries winning a prize in 2002.

In 1997 an exhibition of Jonathan’s work was shown in New York at the ‘Works on Paper’ fair. In 2003 he had a joint show with fellow Portal artist George Underwood, this was a great success, Jonathan also took part in an exhibition of Idiosyncratic Portal Artists in Tanglewood, near Boston in 2004 and Portal painters at the Edinburgh Festival in the same year.

Wolstenholme regularly exhibits with Portal at all the major Art Fairs in London and Glasgow.

Cesare Lapini (1848-1893) | Figurative /Allegorical sculptor

Cesare Lapini (1848-1893) was born in Florence. He became one of the leading sculptors of his generation producing works in marble including allegorical works, copies after the Antique, genre subjects and portrait busts.

These he sold with great success along with works by his contemporaries in his gallery in Florence, to travellers on the Grand Tour, which, from having been limited in the 18th Century to the aristocracy and minor royalty now included the wealthy bourgeois from Britain, Germany, Russia, France and of course the United States.

Brian Scott [Briscott] | Portrait painter

Brian Scott [Briscott] British painter, a self-taught, uses colored pencils, unique perspective and captivating subjects to create stunning work.

Brian Scott is a self-taught artist and feels that it shouldn’t matter what your artistic history or education is, but that you love what you are doing. He has always been interested in art and took classes at night school, but found he did not enjoy the strict, regimented routine.

At first, Brian tried oils and acrylics but didn’t feel that he was successful in those mediums. In 2009 he turned to colored pencils where he found his niche and never looked back.

Miriam Briks, 1957 | Figurative painter

Polish-born American painter Miriam Briks was born in Wroclaw, Poland. Raised in New York, she graduated from the School of Art and Design and studied figurative painting and drawing extensively at the Art Students League of New York.

For the next six years she worked as an illustrator and art teacher in Los Angeles and Florence, Italy. She also continued her studies at the Academy of Art in Siena. Originally trained in classical art, she began exhibiting her work in Paris, Italy and England. Upon her return to the Untied States, she took up residence in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.

Ludwig van Beethoven: "L'amore vuole tutto e ha ragione.."

"L'Arte! Chi la può comprendere? A chi si può rivolgere una persona per attirare l'attenzione di questa grande Dea.."

Beethoven

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) | Beethoven

- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) è stato la figura predominante musicale nel periodo di transizione tra l'epoca Classica e Romantica.

Beethoven fu un innovatore, che ampliò il campo di applicazione della sonata, sinfonia, concerto e quartetto, e la combinazione di voci e strumenti in un modo nuovo.

La sua vita personale è stata segnata da una lotta contro la sordità, e alcune delle sue opere più importanti sono stati composti nel corso degli ultimi 10 anni della sua vita, quando era ancora in grado di sentire.

Alexander Millar, 1960 | Fly With Me

Scottish painter Alexander Millar is one of the UK's most popular contemporary artists. Born and raised in the small mining community of Springside, just outside the town of Kilmarnock on the west coast of Scotland, Millar's earliest memories were of his time spent in the company of old men dressed in dark suits smoking woodbines and large missile-shaped women decked out in big overcoats, pinnies, tartan headscarves and zipped booties, adorned with fake fur around the top.

Jeff Rowland, 1964 | VideoArt

Jeff Rowland's ideas and inspirations: 'I have always been fascinated in two areas of art; the implicit meaning and the inspiration. I was inspired to paint a rain soaked street through films I saw at the cinema.

I am always inspired to experience what I am about to paint. I remember Billy Connolly saying that he hated songs about Scotland that were written by men in London: men who had never even seen the Highlands. In other words, if you are going to do something creative, get to the very heart of it first'.