Photorealism

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Photorealism

• Is it a photo?

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Photorealism

• An art movement of the 60s and 70s
• These artist reacted to the abstract
  expressionist movement and increasingly abstract
  and nonobjective art by drawing so realistic that
  it sometimes exceeded the detail in a photograph
• This was done with griding, projectors, and
  sometimes even painting over a photograph

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Chuck Close
These are not photographs
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Chuck Close
One of the most famous artists of the
photorealism movement. He is known for his
massive portraits that achieve a remarkable level
of realism He achieve this using a complex
griding system that utilizes a pixel-like format
He has been known to work 2 years on a single
print In 1988 Chuck Close relearned to draw when
he had become quadriplegic.
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Audrey Flack
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Audrey Flack

• Originally a frustrated abstract artist, Audrey
  Flack became a member of the photorealism
  movement.
• She often paints still-lives in rich, colorful,
  and often in more detail then one would actually
  see.
• She was the first artist of this movement to get
  into the collections of the Museum of Modern art
  in 1966.
• She would project a slide directly onto her
  canvas. She would apply the color through the
  project image, for this method she used airbrush

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Some Terms

• Griding A method of drawing based on drawing a
  grid over a source image and another grid on your
  canvas.
• This helps you see the proportions and shapes
  more accurately

Rule of Thirds An idea developed in photograph
that says if you place important aspects of your
photoraph along the lines that divide you image
into thirds
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So what is the point?

• What are some reasons that you would draw
  hyper-realistic?
• Do these image violate copy-right laws? Why or
  why not.

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Dorothea Lange
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Dorothea Lange

• A female photographer made famous by her images
  of struggle and hardship during the depression.
• She used these images to document the plight of
  the poor and to motivate others to do something
  about it.
• She was a part of the Farm Security
  Administration, a small group of photographers
  hired to publicize the condition of poor rural
  people in America.
• She was also hired during WWII to document the
  interment of Japanese-Americans. After the war
  she did assignments for Life Magazine.