Hyperrealism is a trend in art that started in the 1960s in the United States. It tries to perfectly imitate reality and artists that adopted it are masters of the painting trade who put great attention to detail in their work. Hyperreal art may look similar to a photography simply because it impresses with its precision but sometimes authors are often accused of not being original.
A lot of old paintings tell us how people used to look and what their lives might have looked like. Thanks to those paintings, amongst other sources, we can imagine what it was like to live in the centuries long past. Growing precision in painting has risen interest in hyperrealism and its presence in modern art. Right now we have many ways of documenting our reality (photos, videos) so we no longer have the need to commission portraits or landscapes. Still, I think there's still a lot of charm in a precise painting that shows our times - current people and things known to all of us.
I would like to show you some examples of hyper realistic and photorealistic works, or just figurative painting - sometimes it's hard to describe an artists work with just one term.
Works of Marco Grassi are so realistic, they seem to be photographs. However, his work is not traditional photorealistic painting. If you look closely, these portraits have a surreal element, that cannot possibly exist in real life. Grassi's incredible skill in painting allows him to create hyper-real images, the out of place elements are only features that help us realise these are oil paintings, not photos. He is able to paint such variety of texture that we almost believe we could feel the soft fabric of clothes in his portraits. Even close up, you can see the details of each wrinkle, pore and eyelash of every woman he paints, creating the illusion of reality.
The twist is, the women in Grassi's paintings are not normal, they have hands covered in patterns or a blue tree stretching across their torso, like glowing tattoos on their bodies. One woman even has a design carved into the skin on her back, revealing hollow darkness. Still, they remain beautiful and realistic. Despite all this Grassi's paintings, still appear believable.
Jenny Morgan is an artist from New York who reaches new levels of hyperrealism. A common element that links all her works is how they are layered.
'Jenny Morgan pushes the boundaries of figurative painting by exploring new ways of affecting her impeccably detailed images. Her haunting portraits are perfectly realized only to be annihilated; their surfaces sanded and stripped away to reveal physical and spiritual wounds of the flesh. By disturbing the surface of the canvas, she achieves a striking intensity and psychological depth in her work, breaking through the ideals of traditional portraiture and the preciousness of realism. In addition to self-portraits, Morgan often depicts people she knowspersonally, though not intimately, stating “If there is a spark of mystery to our relationship it leaves room for me to explore them on canvas.” Morgan’s deeply personal work examines the complexity of human relationships and awareness, providing the viewer a visual and conceptual window into the vulnerable multiplicities of the self.'
Ron Mueck is an Australian sculptor who started his career making puppets and models for movies (Labyrinth for example). Right now he is working on animatronics and photorealistic movie props in Great Britain, but he is most known for his hyper realistic silicon sculpts. These sculpts are often shrunken or enlarged which combined with their realism creates unrest in the viewers.
Duane Hanson is another sculptor. This American artist creates life sized sculpts of people. He touches on the subject of consuptionism with his series of sculpts presenting the American middle class.
Tjalf Sparnaay - a Dutch artist who paints mostly food and everyday items.
Lastly I would like to share some videos that inspired me to write about this topic and made me more interested in hyperrealism.
1. Joel Rea - Modern Version of Leonardo Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'
2. Ivan Alifan Jdanov - Three graces
What are your thoughts after watching these paintings and sculpts? You probably saw some of them before. Do you like this form of art or maybe you consider it worthless?
If you know any more interesting artists creating in a style similar to this (I only picked few of the most known artists), feel free to share in the comments.
SOURCES:
A lot of old paintings tell us how people used to look and what their lives might have looked like. Thanks to those paintings, amongst other sources, we can imagine what it was like to live in the centuries long past. Growing precision in painting has risen interest in hyperrealism and its presence in modern art. Right now we have many ways of documenting our reality (photos, videos) so we no longer have the need to commission portraits or landscapes. Still, I think there's still a lot of charm in a precise painting that shows our times - current people and things known to all of us.
I would like to show you some examples of hyper realistic and photorealistic works, or just figurative painting - sometimes it's hard to describe an artists work with just one term.
Works of Marco Grassi are so realistic, they seem to be photographs. However, his work is not traditional photorealistic painting. If you look closely, these portraits have a surreal element, that cannot possibly exist in real life. Grassi's incredible skill in painting allows him to create hyper-real images, the out of place elements are only features that help us realise these are oil paintings, not photos. He is able to paint such variety of texture that we almost believe we could feel the soft fabric of clothes in his portraits. Even close up, you can see the details of each wrinkle, pore and eyelash of every woman he paints, creating the illusion of reality.
The twist is, the women in Grassi's paintings are not normal, they have hands covered in patterns or a blue tree stretching across their torso, like glowing tattoos on their bodies. One woman even has a design carved into the skin on her back, revealing hollow darkness. Still, they remain beautiful and realistic. Despite all this Grassi's paintings, still appear believable.
Jenny Morgan is an artist from New York who reaches new levels of hyperrealism. A common element that links all her works is how they are layered.
'Jenny Morgan pushes the boundaries of figurative painting by exploring new ways of affecting her impeccably detailed images. Her haunting portraits are perfectly realized only to be annihilated; their surfaces sanded and stripped away to reveal physical and spiritual wounds of the flesh. By disturbing the surface of the canvas, she achieves a striking intensity and psychological depth in her work, breaking through the ideals of traditional portraiture and the preciousness of realism. In addition to self-portraits, Morgan often depicts people she knowspersonally, though not intimately, stating “If there is a spark of mystery to our relationship it leaves room for me to explore them on canvas.” Morgan’s deeply personal work examines the complexity of human relationships and awareness, providing the viewer a visual and conceptual window into the vulnerable multiplicities of the self.'
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| Jenny Morgan, We Are All Setting Suns |
RON MUECK
Ron Mueck is an Australian sculptor who started his career making puppets and models for movies (Labyrinth for example). Right now he is working on animatronics and photorealistic movie props in Great Britain, but he is most known for his hyper realistic silicon sculpts. These sculpts are often shrunken or enlarged which combined with their realism creates unrest in the viewers.
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| Ron Mueck, A Girl |
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| Ron Mueck |
DUANE HANSON
Duane Hanson is another sculptor. This American artist creates life sized sculpts of people. He touches on the subject of consuptionism with his series of sculpts presenting the American middle class.
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| Duane Hanson, Tourists II |
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| Duane Hanson, Supermarket Shopper |
Tjalf Sparnaay - a Dutch artist who paints mostly food and everyday items.
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| Tjalf Sparnaay, Gebakken Ei |
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| Tjalf Sparnaay, Mayonaise |
Lastly I would like to share some videos that inspired me to write about this topic and made me more interested in hyperrealism.
1. Joel Rea - Modern Version of Leonardo Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'
2. Ivan Alifan Jdanov - Three graces
What are your thoughts after watching these paintings and sculpts? You probably saw some of them before. Do you like this form of art or maybe you consider it worthless?
If you know any more interesting artists creating in a style similar to this (I only picked few of the most known artists), feel free to share in the comments.
SOURCES:
Comments
And I don't think it's worthless because it also brings some new view to the art, and all these paintings and sculptures can be super valuable in 100+ years, because it is so super-realistic that we can compare what things looked like in the past. I also think this kind of art genre helps us to enjoy little things, and make anything to be art piece. How does the hyperrealistic portrait differ from baroque portrait when it comes to the reason why it's been made? ;)
Here you can see more examples of hyperreal art.
Here you can see some 3D art on paper which I also find to be pretty entertaining. And here you can watch a part of the process of painting this type of optical illusions.
And an artist worth mentioning is Riusuke Fukahori. He creates carefully painted series of layers encased in clear resin. And makes amazing paintings/sculptures that look like live fish. Check it out <a href="http://www.visualnews.com/2012/01/12/this-is-a-painting-3d-fish-painted-in-layers-of-resin/>here</a>
I preffer when the artist use interesting treatments otherwise realism. Like just RON MUECK, who create scaled sculpture. It takes on a new and fresh value and show something more than only reflected reality.
That's why I like works of Marco Grassi and Jenny Morgan more. They add something new and creative to their works. I find them far more interesting than the other ones.
"transcribe" an image from a photograph onto a canvas or paper is
quite the experience. You become absorbed into it, ensuring that each
hair is in place, each shade is matched, and that each viewer is
fooled when looking at it. The finished product becomes the physical
embodiment of your patience, persistence, and attention to detail.
that those are painting not photos. I guess it is extremely hard to
paint and I would love to see it in reality. Are there any Polish
authors? Contemporary art is a variety of forms and accuracy in every
detail. Artists want to provide their customers as much experience at
the same time.
I believe these is the real art. We see digital visuals 24/7 in the
age of computers. In spite of our dependency on electronics. The art
here tells us Man is still capable of his own destiny. Man can still
use his hands to create and be independent of the system. This is my
own personal opinion of what hyper realism is all about.
I would be inclined to agree that some of the art pieces you show here can feel "empty" of meaning, but maybe it's precisely the point? Like with Duane Hanson's sculptures. While earlier art was full of symbols, hyperrealism serves you everything on a plate; there are no mysteries and ambiguities about it. Or are there? Consumptionism and mass culture are generally considered "empty". Again, Baudrillard would say those sculptures are perfect simulacra of reality: a reality created by mass culture, which, in turn, doesn't have a source in real life. It's an empty sign. We look at it and it's familiar and at the same time completely unfamiliar, unsettling even.
What I'm trying to say is that hyperrealism might not be entirely about showing your skill but it might be a socio-philosophical statement. It poses many questions about art: the nature and the point of it (it's true you can take a photo which would look the same as the painting), as well as human condition. Can absolutely mundane scenes/objects be art? We already know that art doesn't have to beautiful. I think precisely because of the existence of all those questions hyperrealism can be considered art, even if it is so disliked by many people. I also think its existence is humans trying to deal with their fear of emptiness and pointlessness of life. Maybe that's the biggest reveal of hyperrealism.
I always associated hyperrealistism with years of precise practise and identical view of the surroundings. This article explained that there are hyperrealistic artists like Jenny Morgan whose hyperrealistic art is also interpretation of the surroundings. I think paintings are the most interesting sphere of this art movement.
As for your closing question - I think the difference lays in modern realism coming from the artist while in the past these works were mostly commissioned so maybe now there's more of an emotional impact in them?
As for the rest of your comment - I think that considering hyperrealism is "easy to look at" and you don't need to know much about art to appreciate it can do a lot more with the topic it shows and force it's viewers to think. They can touch upon current events or problems like consumptionism, war, addiction and such. By invoking the old realistic painting the modern ones can make us think about how our times will be remembered by the generations to come.
Works of art sometimes evoke different extreme emotions in the audience . This is not the kind of art divorced from reality. Art refers to what surrounds us in a very virtual way.
I think that the creation of hyperrealistic works is very difficult and time consuming. It requires an artist extraordinary accuracy.
The author Jenny Morgan has something mysterious in her work what attracts the eye, on the other hand the artist Ron Mueck does something that disgusts me. The other artists have nothing special not even mentioning in my opinion. If I would consider something worthless it would be T. Sparnaay and D. Hanson, but that is only my opinion. I don’t know any other artists because this is the first time I have counter hyperrealism.
You can see the Boy here:
http://araseducation.tumblr.com/post/98971242158/a-brief-interpretation-of-boy-by-hri-bernard
Also I think that accusations of unoriginality are completely uncalled-for. I do understand that developing a characteristic style is something desired in an artist, but recreating things as they are is those artists' personal style and they rock it.
Form presented artists i like the most Ron Mueck and his novel image of a human. It is like looking through a magnifying glass, we can see details which give effect of different feelings e.g looking huge infant we can feel discomfort that he expresses.
Form presented artists i like the most Ron Mueck and his novel image of a human. It is like looking through a magnifying glass, we can see details which give effect of different feelings e.g looking at huge infant we can feel discomfort that he expresses.