Alighiero Boetti

Alighiero Boetti (1940 – 1994), Italian conceptual artist. He has a lot of great works but my favourite is his name. He registered his name into Alighiero e Boetti (as in Alighiero and Boetti) – therefore separating himself from his family, distinguishing between his persona and his heritage, his front name from his last name.

Miroslav Tichý

Tichý was a Czech artist, he studied painting in art school until he was prisoned at war. Once released from jail he lived a crazy poor life, but that's not important because he made himself a camera out of scrap material and started photographing things that inspired him most – (naked) women.

This is not a nice thing to say but makes me think of the fine line between an artist and a creep. Although I do find his photos very beautiful, especially because of the primitive technique that transforms each image into this fragile and vulnerable, fleeting moment. Imagine these photos being digital – a creep, right?

"I’m not a painter. Nor a sculptor. Nor a writer. I’m Tarzan in retirement."

Aleksander Lobanov

A deaf-mute Russian "amateur artist" (1924 – 2003), very agressive since childhood and spent most of his life in a mental institution. During his impressive 50 years of drawing and painting, his technique and subjects never changed – typical art brut quirk. 

Most if not all of his images include guns with Russian national symbols... and himself.

Nicolas de Staël

Nicolas de Staël (5 Jan 1914 – 16 March 1955) – Russian blood in a handsome Frenchman, known mostly for his abstract primary-colored landscape paintings.

Also known as "Godard's favourite painter". Should look into historical name-dropping, you know when a famous person credits someone less famous and thereby makes him more famous.

Nu couché bleu (1955)

The Road (1954)

Snow Marseille (1954)

Sicile (1954)

Steel Bottles (1954)

Paysage (1954)

Pretty picture

Early 20th century "jail" in Afganistan – bad people were left to die in this elegant cage on a stick.