Photorealism is an extremely realistic style of painting and drawing, in which the artwork is based entirely on a photograph. Photorealist art is most appreciated for its huge WOW! factor. People often mistake photorealist paintings for actual photographs. It sometimes takes a second look to realize that the artwork is actually a painting! That’s part of the fun — realizing that the image before you is not a photo, but the painstaking work of a dedicated artist. Photorealist paintings take many hours to complete, requiring intense concentration and in-depth knowledge of the materials. The end result can be breathtaking and wondrously fun.
For instance, check out my photorealist painting titled Two Pink Cupcakes. Several people wrote to tell me that at first, they thought this image was a photo — until they read the description and learned that it was a painting!
An Overview of Photorealism
Photorealist artists strive to create paintings that resemble photographs as closely as possible. Photorealist art is also often referred to as Super-Realism, New Realism, Sharp Focus Realism, Verism, or Hyper-Realism, although technically each of these names falls under its own specific genre. They are all generally considered to be offshoots of Photorealism, emerging later with their own particular areas of concentration.
Photorealism was a primarily American art movement that emerged in the late 1960s and flourished in the 1970s. Photorealist artists were reacting against Abstract Expressionism, which for many years was the predominant painting style in the United States. Whereas Abstract Expressionism favored spontaneous application of the paint, with no pre-planning, Photorealist art required intricate pre-planning and careful replication of the chosen imagery. Photorealist art shares some similarities with the Pop Art movement, whose return to representational forms was also a reaction against the subconsciously-driven, process-oriented paintings of Abstract Expressionism. Both Photorealist Art and Pop Art feature recognizable imagery that is heavily based on consumer culture.
Photorealist paintings usually depict commonplace objects or scenery, and sometimes portraits. The imagery is often banal and ordinary, capturing the “everydayness” of American life. Since Photorealist art primarily developed in the United States, the artwork is often steeped in nostalgic Americana. Images such as John Baeder’s diner paintings reflect an iconic all-American urban landscape that is nearly extinct.
Dru Blair’s PhotoRealism Workshops. (I Love These Videos Below.)
