javier romagosa
On March 22, those responsible for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum from Madrid inaugurated a pioneering traveling exhibition dedicated to Hyperrealism. This contemporary artistic movement, started in the 60s in the United States, tries to paint reality as if it were a photograph and has a strong connection with the motor world. As explained in the press release:
[su_quote] “Cars, motorcycles, trucks, motorhomes… Vehicles signify mobility, freedom, and therefore are a very representative part of American society and how it views itself. In addition, the materials used in bodies, wheels or bumpers and the reflections that are produced when receiving light are fascinating (to their authors). David Parrish highlights its gleaming surfaces that reflect the sun's rays; For Tom Blackwell the motorcycle is a cult object and paints very enlarged details and specific fragments; Ron Kleemann moves his interest to large agricultural vehicles and trucks; Don Eddy takes an interest for a time in the legendary Beetle, focusing on representing the reflective surface of its body; Ralph Goings paints vans and caravans, in addition to his famous fast food restaurants; Jonh Salt concentrates on car scrapping… ”[/ su_quote]
The exhibition, which will be open until June 9, is made up of 50 works, of which twelve have the American motor world as their main motif. If you are curious to consult the complete catalog, please click here.
Next, we leave you the coordinates, the data and the price of the entrance to the different areas of the museum; and also the press release mentioned in its entirety, for those of you who are interested in knowing a little more about this meticulous (or virtuous) art.
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[su_spoiler title = 'COORDINATES, DATA AND RATES OF THE THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA MUSEUM' show = 'false']
• Title of the exhibition: Hyperrealism 1967-2012
• Organized by: The Institut für Kulturaustausch (Institute for Cultural Exchange of Germany)
• Venues and dates: Tübingen, Kunsthalle, from December 8, 2012 to March 10, 2013; Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, from March 22 to June 9, 2013; Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, November 30, 2013 to March 30, 2014
• Curator: Otto Letze, director of the Institut für Kulturaustausch.
• Coordination: Blanca Uría, Conservation Area.
• Number of works: 50
• Schedule: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.00 a.m. to 19.00 p.m. Saturdays, from 10.00 a.m. to 21.00 p.m. Last pass one hour before closing.
• Rates:
→ Temporary exhibition: General admission: € 8, Reduced admission: € 5,50 for over 65s, pensioners, students with prior accreditation and large families; Free admission: Children under 12 years of age and citizens in legal unemployment situation.
→ Temporary exhibition + Permanent Collection: General admission: € 12, Reduced admission: € 7,5, Free admission: children under 12 years of age and citizens legally unemployed.
[/ Su_spoiler]
«At the end of the 1960s, it emerged in the United States a group of artists who painted objects and scenes of everyday life with great realism using photography as the basis for the realization of their works. The consecration of the movement took place at the Documenta in Kassel in 1972. The exhibition now presented by the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum presents, for the first time, an anthology of Hyperrealism from the great North American masters of the first generation, such as Richard Estes, John Baeder, Tom Blackwell, Don Eddy, Ralph Goings or Chuck Close, to its continuity in Europe and to the impact on painters of later generations, up to the present day. Hyperrealism not in a closed movement; Today, more than forty years after its appearance, many of the group's pioneers and new artists continue to use the photorealistic technique in their creations. Tools and motifs have evolved or changed over time, but with their incredible definition and sharpness, hyper-realistic works continue to fascinate audiences.
(…) Cityscapes, shop windows, fast food restaurants, latest car models, shiny motorcycles, pinball machines, tin toys, ketchup cans… Fragments of everyday life, banal scenes and consumer items turned into artistic motifs. The main issues that occupy the interest of hyperrealist painters are taken from the world around them, from their own personal environment, giving visibility to the everyday through their painting.
Trivial motifs that are first captured through photography and then transferred to the canvas through a laborious process, using various technical resources, such as slide show or raster system. They are generally large-format works, painted with such precision and accuracy that the canvases themselves produce a photographic-quality impression, but made through a creative process completely opposed to the immediacy of the photographic snapshot.
Considered an objective way of documenting the world, since its invention, the use of photography as a starting point for painting was a common practice of many painters, although few recognized it. After the pioneering use of screen printing by pop artists, such as Warhol or Rauschenberg, it was the first hyperrealists who began to use photography without qualms, thus turning it into a “legitimate” instrument. Sometimes they started from photos in magazines or newspapers but soon they began to capture the images themselves, one or more that they then merged into the painting. Three-dimensional scenes become two-dimensional and are deprived of any emotion; they are instants of reality frozen in time and often also without the presence of human beings. They are fascinated by the metallic surfaces of glass and mirrors that allow them to recreate the distorted images of their reflections.
Photography as a starting point and as an apparent end result, but not as an objective; in no case does the hyperrealist painter aspire to compete with her, his motivation is completely different. His works seem to reproduce reality but, in fact, it is a new graphic reality created by the painter. Through it, certain problems regarding the perception of reality began to arise: they question themselves about issues such as the objectivity and authenticity of the images, or about how photography has changed the way of seeing and relating to the world.
The pioneers of Hyperrealism reflect on all this and make it the subject of their paintings, and they do so by working more or less in isolation. In the early 1960s, on the American West Coast, Robert Bechtle began to produce the first truly photorealistic paintings; Around the same time, Richard Estes began working on his characteristic shop windows and cityscapes in New York, Chuck Close painted his famous portraits, and the only woman in this group of pioneers, Audrey Flack, did her first works based on photographs.
Expanded fragments of reality, objects, people or places
This first generation of hyperrealists is almost exclusively American; Some work on the East Coast, basically in New York, or on the California coast. With some peculiarities, his songs show the American way of life, "the American way of life"; images of everyday life, consumer goods and vehicles are the most representative themes.
Cars, motorcycles, trucks, caravans ... Vehicles signify mobility, freedom, and therefore are a very representative part of American society and how it views itself. In addition, the materials used in bodies, wheels or bumpers and the reflections that occur when they receive light are fascinating. David Parrish highlights its gleaming surfaces that reflect the sun's rays; For Tom Blackwell the motorcycle is a cult object and paints very enlarged details and specific fragments; Ron Kleemann moves his interest to large agricultural vehicles and trucks; Don Eddy takes an interest for a time in the legendary Beetle, focusing on representing the reflective surface of its body; Ralph Goings paints vans and caravans, in addition to his famous fast food restaurants; Jonh Salt concentrates on car scrapping ...
The play of light falling on the polished surfaces also stars in another of his favorite themes, the still life. Everyday objects with little relevance, such as toys and vending machines (Charles Bell), food groups (Ben Schonzeit), consumer articles and personal objects (Audrey Flack).
Reflections also in fragments of modern life in the city: Robert Cottingham is interested in commercial advertisements and illuminated signs; Richad Estes for reflections in shop windows, phone booths, and cars; John Baeder paints the exterior of fast food restaurants, while Ralph Goings prefers the images inside. The rural world of the United States is also represented in the work of some hyperrealists, mainly those who work on the West Coast; like Richard McLean, who paints modern cowboys and cowgirls; Jack Mendenhall who is interested in the atmosphere of the American homes of the sixties; or Robert Bechtle focused on capturing snapshots of the everyday life of the American middle class.
And from everyday life to portraiture, always of people close to the artist's circle and self-portraits. Chuck Close is his biggest representative, he portrays himself and friends larger than life, using a grid system; They are faces that look at the viewer without any kind of emotion or movement. The Swiss Franz Gertsch, who works in isolation from his North American colleagues, was also attracted to the genre of portraiture. Together with the British John Salt, they are the only non-American first generation hyperrealists, although Salt moved to New York in the 1960s. Due to their origin and the choice of motives, both contributed to the internationalization of the movement, a characteristic that will mark the development of the second generation of hyper-realistic painters, together with the introduction of some technological and compositional innovations.
From personal to anonymity, large-format cityscapes
Likewise attracted by capturing everyday reality, the artists of the second hyperrealist generation, working in the 1980s and 1990s, show a greater interest in transferring photographs to canvas with the utmost rigor in detail, incorporating the enormous possibilities into their work. provided by new digital and photographic technologies. They move away from the small and focus on large urban landscapes, one of their favorite subjects and for which they frequently use the panoramic format. Italian Anthony Brunelli photographs the models with a wide-angle lens, then stitching together several images on the canvas; In this way he paints urban views of the various countries in which he works. Robert Gnieweck is drawn to urban landscapes mainly at dusk or at night, he is fascinated by night light shows; Davis Cone does it with movie theaters, in and out of the city; and the Frenchman Bertrand Meniel, despite his origin, is once again interested in large American cities.
Technological advances are noticeable in the final result of the works, with an appearance of greater clarity and detail. The scarce presence of the human figure, characteristic on the other hand quite frequent in Hyperrealism, increases the impression of coldness and distance. Rod Penner uses high-resolution digital cameras and Don Jacot paints squares and urban places famous for being very crowded, but he represents them with hardly any presence of the human figure.
Absolute sharpness, greater precision than that of the human eye
Today's artists, the third generation of hyperrealists, work with the most modern digital cameras and manage to take realistic painting to another dimension, creating completely new visual experiences. Digital images provide more information than those developed from a negative; in particular, the sharp contours and high definition literally turn the rendered image into a “hyper-real” object. Roberto Bernardi focuses on still lifes, Raphaella Spence takes photographs from helicopters or skyscrapers, Peter Maier is mainly interested in the representation of surfaces and Ben Johnson in architectures, later making numerous drawings with the help of the computer. The city and its inhabitants continue to attract the attention of artists, such as the American Robert Neffson or the British Clive Head.
Full-size images (1.280 px. Approx.)
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