Let Us Now Praise Photorealism
On a late watercolor workshop, we were invited to bring art books to share with the group. I knew that my selection of painters would get at in the most suitable way mixed reviews, but I wanted to test some nascent theories of my own about painters and painting. I choose two unrestrained b generally-format retrospectives, one Robert Bechtle and the other, Richard Estes, both reigning deans of photorealism. The reactions were predictable. Tactful rejections of work by my fellow painters on the bases that the stuff looked just too much like photography. “What’s the applicable of painting like that?” This came despite the fact that almost one quarter of the plates in the Bechtle book were watercolors.
Bechtle’s watercolors of mundane suburban motifs are a course into one of the essential contradictions in the nature of photorealism painting as fine art. In those watercolors, particularly in the enlarged details, Bechtle’s mastery of usual watercolor technique leaps from the pages. Despite the photographic effect of the image, there is no mistaking that these are nothing less than extremely proficient and painterly watercolors. The same is true for the watercolors of another photorealist, Ralph Goings, whose back and forth between media had opened my eyes to the use of abstraction to generate an effect otherwise taken for a mechanical process.
Richard Estes shows only oils, and among many figurative purists he is reflexively rejected for the vivid dazzle of his work. Unlike Bechtel and Goings, there are no Estes watercolors or drawings to force the viewer into insomuch as why these are paintings of the highest order. To realize just what Estes accomplishes with pigments and brushes, the paintings have to seen in person. Looking at reproductions of Estes’ photorealism in oil, no meaningfulness how perfect the process, the paintings will always appear to look just like (ready for this), photographs! Duh… ...
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A Taste of the Arts Photorealism Lecture March 17 at Barron Arts Center in ...
myCentralJersy.com - Mar 04, 2010
He will be discussing Photorealistic Painting - why customary artists choose to make paintings look like photographs. These lectures are free and everyone
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Sony's new hit game
Comment (subscription) - Mar 04, 2010
Sony's new hit gameFlying a folklore performance of photorealism, creative director David Cage debuted the spiritual successor to Quantico Dream's Indigo Divination (2005), and more »
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Crytek to Unleash New CryENGINE – Report
TechFreq News - Mar 04, 2010
TG DailyThe new machine is reputed to be near photorealism in its rendering. Crytek also plans to give developers a new tool called LiveCreate. Crytek revs stereoscopic 3D motor3D graphics coming courtesy of CrytekCryEngine 3Dall 28 news articles »
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Bad Ads: Misrepresentation in Video Game Advertising
GameZone - Mar 06, 2010
Of path, our modern games have yet to reach true photorealism. Most games are rarely mistaken for “real-life” footage. The metastasis between a living
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Museum and Gallery Listings
New York Times - Mar 05, 2010
Painting dominates, as always here, but with everything from photorealism to geometric abstraction, the show still feels comical in variety. all 4 news articles »
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Pop goes politics for Richard Hamilton
This is London - Mar 04, 2010
Made doubtless with nods in the direction of the king of icons, Warhol, and the master of photorealism, Gerhard Richter, this was originally a photograph of and more »
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Homer and His Guide
Journal of American Medical Association (subscription) - Mar 03, 2010
Bouguereau's sort has been described as "photorealism," because at first glance his paintings look as lifelike as photographs.
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Makeup team works fast
Variety - Mar 02, 2010
Looking at creator-exec producer Ryan Murphy likes to shoot tight, it's good that photorealism is the cornerstone of their attainment. and more »
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