FAVORITE ARTISTS:
Certainly all artists are influenced by MANY other artists, deeply admiring their work, the genre, sense-of-purpose, intent, presentation and achieved acclaim; as well as, appreciate the work of MANY more. This first list is about ABSOLUTE favorites, many quite obviously my  ANTECEDENTS, that I herewith extol as they have, and likely still, influence/stimulate my thinking and productivity (with some slight "ranking" via CAPS, boldface, underlines and/or italics):
Yaacov Agam, JOSEPH ALBERS, Arakawa, Lorenzo Bernini, Charles Biederman, MAX BILL, Mel Bochner, Ilya Bolotansky, Lee Bontecou, Georges Braque, Sergio Camargo, Eduardo Chillida, Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Walter De Maria, CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ, Burgonne Diller,  JIMMY ERNST, Max Ernst, Herbert Ferber, Loser Fietelson, SUE FULLER, NAUM GABBO, GEGOLorenzo Ghiberti, Antony Gromley, Phillip Guston, Dimitri Hadzi, Bernard Heiliger, AL HELD, Barbara Hepworth, Robert Irwin,  Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, FRANK KUPKA, JULIO LE PAC, Alexander Lieberman, RICHARD LIPPOLD,  EL LISSYTZKY, Kazimar Malivich,  Allan Mc Collum,  Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Ibram Lassaw, Laszlo MOHOLY NAGY, Fancois Morellett, Barnett Newman, Ben Nicolson, HELIO OITICIA, ALEJANDRO OTERO, Alicia Penalba, ANTONIO PEVSNER, Francis Picabia, Otto Piene, LEON POLK-SMITH, Arnaldo Pomodoro, LIUBOV POPOVA,  Jean Pierre Raynaud, Ad Reinhardt, GEORGE RICKEY, ALEXANDER RODCHENKO,  Tony Rosenthal, ROBERT RYMAN, JESUS-RAFFAEL SOTO, Fred Sandback, Lucas Signorelli, David Smith, Pierre Soulages, Clyford Still, GEORGE SUGARMAN, ZDENÉK SYKORA, TAKIS, THEO van DOESBERG, Gunther Uecker, GEORGES VANTONGERLOO, Victor Vasserely, Mary Vieira, CHRISTOPHER WILMARTH, Isaac Witkin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jack Youngerman.
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Then there are many artists that I feel must be listed as ABSOLUTE, knock-me-on-my ass favorites, a list that shall be ever ongoing, AFTER the aforementioned antecedent-like favorites:
 Henri-Georges Adam, Peter Agostini, Peter Alexander, Adela Andea,  Chuck Arnoldi, Maria Artemis, Ilan Auerbuch, Alice Aycock, Giacomo Balla, Florian Baudrexel, Bruce Beasley, Lynda Benglis, Billy Al BengstonFletcher Benton, Linda Besemer, Andre Bloc, Laurent Boccara, Umberto BoccioniLydia Bodnar-Balahutrak, Jack Boynton, Karin Broker, Gil Bruve, Lee Bul, Pol Bury, Ben Butler, Reg Butler, James Casebere, Penny Cerling, Mel ChinLygia Clark, Kristen Cliburn, James Cobb, Alberto Collie, Petah Coyne, Wessel Couzijn, Hans De BovenkampBill Davenport, Matt Devine, Ronald Davis, Stuart Davis, Tony Delap, Elaine De Dekooning, David Deming, Norman Dilworth, Jim Dine,  Norman Dilworth, Jessica Drenk, Michael Dunbar, Pavel Dutkiewica, Martin Eder, Jane Eifler, Olafar Eliasson, Brad Ellis, Sharon Engelstein, Ayes Erkmen, Nick Ervinck,  Manuel Espinosa, Gabriele Evertz, Simeen Farhat, Jenison Faust, Andy Feehan, Garland Fielder, Bill Fitzgibbons, Don Foster, Michalle Gagliano, Dixie Friend-Gay, Ryan Geiger, Carol Gerhardt, Andy Goldsworthy, Joe Goode, Larry Graeber, Nancy Graves,  David Gray, George Grockocki, Sam Gummelt, Don Gummer, Gilbert Hasiao, Dan Havel, Joe Havel, Rachel HeckerEva Hess, Bernard Heiliger, George Herold, Edwardt Hilgemann,  John Henry, Paul Hertz,  Lee Albert Hill, Phillipe Hiquily, Dorothy Hood, Perry House, Shirazeh Houshiary, Otis HubandRobert (McCoy) Hughs, John Hultberg, Ralph Humphrey, Robert Irwin, Roi James, Terrell James, Patty Whitey-Johnson, Richard Johnson, Ben Kamahara, ANISH KAPOOR, Craig Kauffman, Mel Kendrick, Gabriel Kohn, Ken Kotara, Agapetus A. Kristiandana, Nicholas Krushenick, Gaston Lachaise, Nick Lania, Janaki Lennie, Jacques Lipchitz,  Seymour Lipton, Jim Love, Al Loving, Sebastian Ludwig, Tierney Malone, Joe Mancuso, MANUAL, Joseph Marrioni, Agnes Martin, Christopher Martin, Paul Maxwell, David Middlebrook, Randall McCabe, John McCraken, David McGee, John Mclaughlin, Clement Meadmore, Julie Mehretu, Mary Miss, Don Morris, Sarah Morris, MATT MULICAN, Bruno Munari, Oscar Munoz, Steve Murphy, Brian Moore, Jim Napiora, David Nash, Bruce Nauman, John Newman, Isamu Noguchi, Xavier Nuez, Kermit Oliver, Henrique Olivira, Dennis Oppenheim, Leigh-Anne Pahapill, Albert Paley, Marta Pan,  Aaron Parazette, Mark Perlman, Eduardo Portillo, Guillaome Pouchoux, Richard Posette-Dart, Bas Poulos, Mel Prest, Ken Price, Nadeada Prvulovic, MARTIN PURYEARHarvey Quaytman,  Krishna Reddy, Don Redman, Peter Reginato, Deborah Remington, Patrick Renner, GERHART RICHTER, Cinita Rico, Bridget Riley,  Dorthea Rockburn, Richard Harold Rogers, James Rosati, Ragellah Rourke, Dean Ruck, Peter Sacks, Shuli Sadé, Christoph Schellberg, Julius Schmidt, Charles Schorre, Rusty Scuby, Sean Scully, Richard SerraAnthony Thompson Shumate, Daniel Sierra, Ranjani Shettar, Jay Shinn, Todd Siller, Dirk Skreber, George Smith, Kaneem Smith, TONY SMITH, Kenneth Snelson, Al Souza, Jen Stark, FRANK STELLA ,Richard Stout, James Surls, Graham Sutherland, Robert SwainKurt Schwitters, Phillip Taaffe, Masura TakiguchiJackie Tillison, Mary Tomás, Luis Tomasello, Nester Topchy, Cecil Touchon, Christopher Tribble, McKie Trotter, Ernest Trova, Elizabeth Turk, Robert TurnbergArthur Turner, David Turner, James Turrell Karl Umlauf, Robin Utterback, De Wain Valentine, Richard Van Buren, Mario Dal Verme, Mark Verstockt, Charline Von Heyl, David Walker, Bill Watterson, H.C. Westermann, Mac Whitney, Wes 21, Robert Wilson, James Wines, Ben Woetina, Wucius Wong, Fritz Wotruba, Dustin Yellin,  Tawara Yusaku, Chris Yormick, JACK ZAYJACK.

These lists may seem far too formidable, yet think of the HUNDREDS of artists we ALL revere that are NOT listed, including many very close friends  I greatly admire. I feel compelled to say there is a great discerning spread about preparing these lists between liking, approving, admiring, appreciating and then the veneration of being influenced by and/or humbly in awe. Everyone needs to know about the work by these very influentially important artists. (please forgive the uncontrolled formatting gaps)