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)