Photo-Realism Super Realism New Realism Photo-Realism Super Realism

New Realism New Realism is also known as Super-Realism, Photo-Realism, and Hyper-Realism. Artists used commercial art techniques such as the grid, airbrush, photography, or anything that would help produce a realistic image. It was based on the pop of the 50's & 60's and astounded the viewer with incredible illusions of reality. Artists strive for a synthesis of reality. Often the look of the finished product is determined by the source (photo or cast of an actual person). Artists return to the notion that there is a world worth looking at and recording on canvas.

New Realism Photo-Realism evolved from two longstanding art-historical traditions: trompe l'oeil ("to fool the eye") painting and the meticulous technique and highly finished surfaces of seventeenth-century Dutch painting. Painters such as Vermeer greatly influenced Estes with their detailed observation of reality and their use of technical devices, such as the camera obscura.

Chuck Close Began as Abstract Expressionist Begins working with a system: a) grids photo b) Grids canvas to scale c) Paints each square with attention of individual painting Process is as important as image

Big Self- Portrait Chuck Close Photo- Realism 1967-68

Subject is self-portrait but like I.D. photo Uses airbrush, impersonal like silk-screen in Pop Black & White Large scale - the subject is both heroic & exploited Very objective rendering of subject - translates photo info into paint info

Portraits in no way reflect the inner qualities of the subject From distance - giant blow-ups of photo's Up close - Abstract fields of dots & marks Info exposes every detail including the unflattering - pores, hairs, wrinkles, blemishes Not idealized

John 1971-72 Artist’s friend Reproduces limited depth of field of the photographic source

Collapse of vein in 1988 leaves him in near total paralysis (legs, arms, even hands) Now paints with brush strapped to wrist in a wheelchair

Roy II Chuck Close Photo- Realism 1994 Part of a series of fellow artists – this one depicts Roy Lichtenstein

His new circumstances librated his process. Having no fine motor skills forced a new system involving concentric circles of sumptuous colour, and expressive handling of paint. Grids are much larger, so the resolving distance increases

Richard Estes Master of the urban scene, he paints directly from photo's and slides An Estes painting is a composite of several photographic views of the same subject (often up to 75 exposures combined in photomontage.) He is not concerned with recreating exact copies of photographs, but rather in manipulating and reconstructing them to create a view that appears more truthful to the eye than reality. Scenes of New York City that focus on the built environment rather than the natural one.

Richard Estes They are usually obscure locations rather than well-known landmarks. Compositions are typically devoid of people and therefore convey a sense of somber isolation without narrative. Some content is derived from Pop (commercial signage), but technique and style are more sophisticated. The image is built up in layers of acrylic paint. Estes then overpaints the entire canvas in oil, to enhance luminosity and rich saturation of color.

Central Savings, 1975 The subjects reveal the prominence of commercialism in the urban landscape. The camera makes available a vast amount of info, frozen in time. The mood is non-judgmental/neutral.

Central Savings, 1975

Central Savings, 1975 Reflections on glass & chrome animate the scene. Colours, shadows, & every subtly of perspective is painstakingly reproduced and enhanced.

Double Self-Portrait, 1976 Demonstrates his attention to detail, and convincing depiction of reflection. Reflections dissolve/fuse the barrier between background & foreground. Multiple layers of visual information, alert the viewer to things they have not noticed before.

Double Self-Portrait, 1976

Double Self-Portrait, 1976 Reflection adds depth The location is out of context and the open composition is nearly abstract because of the emphasis on rectilinear shapes.

Duane Hanson Work contains tension between artificial & realistic qualities Based on direct cast of parts of human figures, then reassembles them cast in polyester resin & fiberglass, with real clothes, wigs, & objects. Uses cast in the way Estes uses photos Figures mix/ blend in to the environment Subjects are everyday people Satires, and criticizes social circumstances

Tourists 1970

Virtual Reality Subject suggests physical bloating & Intellectual starvation Paradox - detached viewers are subjects of observation Social observation of retired tourists in NY Bizarre quality - very real, but don't move or breath