One of my favourite artists is David Hockney, British, a lovely pic of him and his parents 
His paintings of people, water are spectacular and even though they appear to be flat for example the couple below tells a story about their relationship and their personalities
His pics of water are tremendous. It would be amazing to own one of these and have it on my wall. Alas they are way too expensive.
I agree with his water work, tremendous, just WOW!
The other painting (of his parents?) style is the compartmentalization of different colors without the dimensions given by light.
Not his parents, lifetime friends.
Yes, when his paintings are without light and shadow, albeit there is some but not as obvious, these concentrate on the psychological aspect of the subject and capture it very well, I believe.
I saw a doco of him recently, tremendously interesting.