PhotoRealism5th hour

Courtney FarmerJacqueline PaetzoldKendra Bartkowiak

What is it?• Creating a painting

using a photograph• People and objects

realistic• AKA: SuperRealism,

Sharp-Focus Realism, New Realism, Radical Realism, Post-Modern Illusionism, and Post-Pop Illusionism

5 Point Definition by Louis K. Meisel

• Uses camera & photograph• Mechanical or semi-mechanical means of transfer• Finished work appears photographic• Created before 1972• Devoted at least 5 years

Where Did PR Come From?

• Reactionary movement: media

• Counter to abstract expressionism and minimalism

• Evolved from Pop Art• Big in the US during the

1960s-70s• Artists used it as act of

rebellion

Styles & Subject Matter

• Tight and precise• Urban landscapes• Great variation• Non-emotive• No appeal to subconscious• Imitates photo strictly• Omit certain aspects• Focus on everyday, mundane imagery

Tools

• Analog cameras• Airbrush• Acrylics• Oils• Combination of

them• Sometimes

computer

Techniques• Used

photographic stills

• Preliminary drawings

• Grisaille drawings

• Photographic slide projectors

• Gridding

Grisaille Drawings

Photographic Slide Projectors

Gridding

HyperRealism• Advancement of PhotoRealism

• Resembles high-resolution photograph

• US & Europe since early 2000s

• Artists put their own emotions in paintings

• Softer and more complex focus

• False reality not seen in photo

• Details more clear than in actual photo

• Digital imagery/camera• Photographic limitations• Subject matter: portraits, figurative art, still life,

landscapes, cityscapes, and narrative scenes• Expose bad situations• 10 to 20 times size of photo

Photography• Became art through

PhotoRealism• Use of camera = acceptance of

modernism• Photographic media• Huge effects on artists• Camera abilities changed

painting• Camera used to obtain

information• Used as a tool & as subject

matter

Sculptures

• Life-like, average people with simulated hair and real clothes

• AKA Verists• Desire to create

realistic figure• Didn’t deal too much

with photographs

Ralph Goings

•Painted ordinary objects, including trucks, diners, and diner paraphernalia•Portrayed the subject as it was—no embellishing, censoring, or anything else•Later began arranging objects in studio, which allowed him to control lighting

Sugar, 1993

Tiled Lunch Counter, 1981

Ralph’s Diner, 1981-1982

Tom’s Diner, 1993

Ketchup Bottle, 1990

Double Ketchup, 2006

Richard Estes

• Portrayed urban settings, usually anonymous streets or buildings, with glass, metal, or other reflective surfaces

• Not interested in evoking mood/emotion; created depth and intensity that the eye normally wouldn’t see

Double Self-Portrait, 1976

Times Square, 2000

Telephone Booths, 1968

Grant’s 1972

Broadway and 68th St., 2012

Duane Hanson

• Sculptures• Sought to audience aware of ordinary people

(especially working class) and their contribution and roles in society

• Didn’t idealize/romanticize subject; presented them as the would appear in everyday life

• Goal was to make figure natural and authentic

Young Shopper, 1973

Queenie II, 1988

Jogger, 1983

Touristts II, 1988

Audrey Flack

• Attention to detail, all items contribute to the larger whole

• Focused on public figures (Roosevelt, Kennedy, Hitler), based on photographs taken from documentary news

• She was a feminist, so this influenced her work• Her works involve the viewer both aesthetically and

ethically (social and political implications, often symbolically hidden)

Abstract Force, 1951-1952

Farb Family Portrait, 1969-1970

Kennedy Motorcade, 1964

Marilyn: Elegy, 1980

Marilyn (Vanitas), 1977

Wheel of Fortune (Vanitas), 1977-78

Jolie Madame (Pretty Woman), 1973

Macarena Esperanza, 1971

Chuck Close

• Used famous people, but mainly used friends and other people so that the actual art would come through and people wouldn’t just be seeing faces as the main point

• Concerned with visual elements—shapes, textures, volume, shadows, and highlights—of the photo

• Aims to achieve an allover visual effect (so not looking at individual cells), and he’s not a purist; only interested in quality of end product

Big Self-Portrait, 1967-1968

Linda, 1975-1976

Mark, 1978-1979

Kiki, 1993

19971995

Controversy

• Its not art• Not real• No talent• Not creative or unique• Cruel • No meaning

Reactions

• Beauty• Detail• Extremely realistic• Own conclusion

Influences on art

• Hyperrealism• Artists today

Photo Realism Today

• No longer American movement• Popular in Europe• Few artists still do it• Video games & movies

Video Games

Video Games

Movies

Movies