LOOK MA!

    Back in the early 1970s when I first began studying art in college, I went on assignment to a small art center in LA County to view a show on realism. I was totally unprepared for how sucked in I would get by viewing this show. This art movement was really becoming "the thing" at that time, being called either Super Realism or Photorealism.

    Decades earlier an urban realism became popularized by one of my favorites, artist Edward Hopper, with his 1942 painting Nighthawks becoming both beloved and parodied.

    So, with the Photorealism movement of the 1970s, gone was any stigma around the use of photographs as the basis of paintings. Artists graphed out the compositions with as much accuracy as possible, or even projected images onto canvas. With traditional brushes or with air brushes, these works were stunning in their clarity.
    Some of the works that were fabulous, I also relegate to what I call the school of "Look Ma What I Can Do!" painting. These works are incredible feats, yet don't reflect that much about our culture. Examples:

by Audrey Flack

by Charles Bell

by Robert Cottingham 

        My absolute favorites were works that did reflect aspects of American life:

by Richard Estes

by Robert Bechtle

by Chuck Close

    From Sonoma County, three artists who excel at producing realistic images:

by Jeannette Mahan of Santa Rosa

  

by Diana Lee of Santa Rosa

by Rik Olson of Sebastopol

 Treats for the eyes.

 These examples of artworks shine a spotlight for us onto our American lives