03 April 2012

Normality... Intensified...

It's vacation and I have more time than normal to browse around on the internet...

This slideshow caught my eye.

It is a style of art called "hyperrealism." I'm a bit intrigued. While I can appreciate other forms of art, photography and realistic works (particularly drawings and paintings) are my favorites.

Isn't this drawing amazing?


My grandpa died when I was just a little girl... but this is very much like the picture of him that I keep in my mind - maybe that is why I'm drawn to this one...

I was familiar with surrealistic art, but this was the first time I'd stumbled across anything classified as "hyperrealism," at least as far as I was aware. According to Paul Cadden (the artist who created the above picture), hyperrealism is "...meticulously detailed to create the illusion of a new reality not seen in in the original photo. The Hyperrealist style focuses much more on its emphasis on detail and the subjects depicted. Hyperreal paintings and sculptures are not strict interpretations of photographs, nor are they literal illustrations of a particular scene or subject. Instead, they utilise additional, often subtle, pictorial elements to create the illusion of a reality which in fact either does not exist or cannot be seen by the human eye. Furthermore, they may incorporate emotional, social, cultural and political thematic elements as an extension of the painted visual illusion. ...The virtual image becomes the living image, an intensification of the normal."

If I were to put that into my own words, I'd say that means that those things falling under the description of ordinary and everyday, things I might often easily overlook and pass right by, instead leap off the page to confront me. I find it quite powerful as I look at examples of this type of art.


I'm finding it quite powerful as I try to take a good look all around me.

How many of us could sometimes use a good dose of hyperrealistic perspective?

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