PAINTING III

(a) Painting "grab bag"

JANET FISH (photo-realism)

• Apples, 1970
• August and the Red Glass, 1976
• Raspberries and Goldfish, 1981
• Kara, 1983

ALICE NEEL (combination of expressionism and photo-realism)

• Dead Father, 1946
• Lonliness, 1970
• Andy Warhol, 1970
• Still Life, Rose of Sharon, 1973
• Margaret Evans Pregnant, 1978

PAULA REGO (major influence on her work is Balthus... second-wave surrealist who put young girls in very suggestive poses; she also plays with scale (using very large women as ballerinas, for instance).

• The Policeman's Daughter
• The Family, 1988
• The Little Murderess, 1987
• Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney's Fantasia (triptych), 1995

SYLVIA SLEIGH (reverses idea of the "GAZE" by showing herself as the painter and a man as the object, posed nude similar to how women have been viewed for centuries).

• Philip Golub Reclining, 1971
• Imperial Nude, Paul Rosano, 1975

LUCIEN FREUD (photorealist phase early; later very expressionistic interpretation of nudes from photographically-derived viewpoints. Paint VERY THICK in late works).

• Rabbit on a Chair, 1944
• Interior with Paddington, 1951
• Naked Portrait with Reflection, 1986
• Naked Man on a Bed, 1989-90
• Evening in the Studio, 1993
• Girl in an Attic Doorway, 1995

JENNY SAVILLE (member of the Saatchi "stable" of artists; HUGE works featuring women's bodies that are not considered the ideal beauty; shows their bodies from angles that accentuate their size; frequently from "worms eye" perspective and cropping suggestive of photography. Addresses struggle women face with bodies that do not conform to commercial expectations of beauty and methods (like liposuction) that women use to try to make their bodies conform. Also suggests the female body as a "territory" owned by man (compared to landscape); while this is a traditional idea and can be linked to eco-Feminism, her works are also formally beautiful (both in terms of application of paint and use of color.. many seem to have light emanating from the interior of their bodies.)

• Propped, 1992
• Plan, 1993
• Trace, 1993-94
• Shift, 1996-97
• Hybrid, 1997

(b) superrealism, hyperrealism, photorealism

***use this virtual lecture in conjunction with images posted on the review website managed by Kathy Evans***

• Superrealism, sometimes referred to as photorealism or hyper realism, was a style seen primarily during the 1970s in which the subject matter was represented in a very realistic, accurate manner.
• Pop Art is seen as the progenitor of this style.
• Most Superrealist painters worked in a similar fashion, either by copying images from photographs onto their canvas or by projecting color slides or transparencies of their subject upon a canvas, then sketching and painting the image in acrylic or oil pigments, sometimes applying the pigment with airbrush.
• This type of art is theoretically characterized by the depiction of subjects with minute and impersonal exactitude of detail -- although half the artists who work this way don't fit that mold.

CLOSE

• born Monroe Washington, 1940
• Yale University
• Starts as an abstract expressionist, becomes a superrealist
• known for giant portrait heads based on photos
• early works are black and white; starts with color in the 1970s
• in his black and white works he focuses on meticulous detail of textures
• airbrush used to eliminate "art marks" i.e. brushstrokes
• in color works he uses geometric pattern (different type of non-art neutrality)
• related in technique to minimalism... divides photographs into a grid, transfers gridded work to canvas
• from a distance seems monumentally scaled blowups of original pictures, closeup assume a strange new identity as a field of dots, brush marks and sometimes fingerprints
• later works emphasize the grid, creating "low resolution" similar to computer pixels
• most of his subjects are friends, but the basic idea is that the human figure is a source of information
• 1988 suffers spinal injury... returns to painting with a brush taped to his arm

slides:

• Big Self Portrait, 1968 (3 m')
• John, 1971 (100 x 90" acrylic)
• Bertrand II, Laura I, 1984 (polaroid photos)
• Alex 1987 (100 x 84" oil)
• Cindy, 1982, 1988
• Alex II, 1989 (36 x 30") & detail
• Eric (in progress) (100 x 84" oil)
• Bill (maquette) 20 x 24" polaroid
• Bill, 1990 (72 x 60" oil)

FLACK

• photorealism... projects color slides onto canvas
• airbrush (ACRYLIC) painted over with OIL for super detail
• no brushstrokes visible
• rich symbolism used (for instance with Marilyn... photo of Norma Jean, fruit that is ripe and past-ripe, hourglass, candle burned low, makeup etc.) (with Buddha lots of jewels etc.... the "worldly goods" that the Buddha renounced in order to achieve enlightenment).

slides:

• Chanel, 1974 (acrylic on canvas)
• Buddha, 1975 (oil over acrylic)
• Parrots are Forever (to show process)
• World War II vanitas, 1976-77
• Queen, 1976
• Marilyn, 1977
• Wheel of Fortune, 1977-78
• We are all Light and Energy, 1981

ESTES

• b. 1936, attends Art Institute of Chicago
• Graphic artist who turns to painting anonymous streetscapes
• method: takes several photographs and combines them to get the right "feel"
• works with traditional brushes, starting with acrylic, then finishing with oil for detail
• city as a visual spectacle... bright light... garbage is glossy.
• rarely allows any human figures in city scenes...
• concentrates on architecture and signs
• also likes to show through plate glass windows
• uses many photos he takes and prints himself...
• uses to compose acrylic underpainting in which each part is revised, color adjusted and the design worked out.
• results = "planes" compare to cubism

slides:

• Horn & Hardart, 1967
• Escalator, 1970
• Supreme Hardware, 1973
• View of Barcelona, 1988 (oil, 40 x 88")

PEARLSTEIN

• b. Pittsburgh, 1924
• leading proponent of return to naturalism and interest in the human figure
• starkly unidealized nudes usually in domestic surroundings
• harsh lighting, oblique angles, cropping of image suggests candid photograph BUT surface is not slick -- can see brushstrokes & texture.
• calls himself a post-abstract realist
• describes the figures in his paintings as a groupings of still-life forms
• believes he has rescued the human figure from the torment and anguish applied by the expressionists

slides:

• Models in the Studio, 1965 (oil on canvas, 72 x 53")
• Female Model on Bench, 1972 (o/c, 48 x 60")
• Female Nude on Platform Rocker, 1977-78 (o/c 72 x 96")
• Female on Eames Chair, Male on Swivel Stool, 1981 (watercolor on paper, 60 x 40")
• Model Seated on Rocking Rattan Lounge, 1984

SUPERREALIST SCULPTURE

HANSON

• Minnesota native... Macalester college... then Cranbrook Academy in Michigan
• influenced by pop art and Segal
• liquid polyester resin to give visual/tactile qualities of flesh (fiberglass-reinforced plyester resin..
• Hanson adds to the textured reality pores, wrinkles and bulges, the coloration of skin, veins, boils, bruises.
• early works political (Abortion, 1965, dead young girl covered with a sheet... back alley abortions)
• attacked for grim realism... "Gangland Victim," "Motorcycle Accident," "Race Riot," "War,"
• in 70s as heÕs finding success he shifts to more wry social satires... milder brand of social commentary
• donÕt deliver what they promise (people watch for them to breathe... spooky... cf. Segal)
• ViewerÕs delight in recognition can turn to horror when what appears to be flesh and blood fails to breathe and remains as static as death...
• looks at "types" of everyday individuals
• artist has no personal expression in this medium (due to superrealism)
• uses real clothing etc
• The effect of this indiscriminate attention to detail is generallyÑsomewhat paradoxicallyÑto create a strong feeling of unreality.
• Duane Hanson's lifesize, freestanding sculptures would seem, at first glance, to close the famous gap between art and life.
• Quote: "to me the resignation, emptiness and lonliness of their existence captures the true reality of life for these people. Consequently I'm not interested in the human form.. but rather a face or body which has suffered like some weatherworn landscape the erosion of time. In portraying this aspect of life I want to achieve a certain tough realism which speaks of the fascinating idiosyncracies of our time" reprinted in Ian Chilvers, A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art (Oxford, 1999), pp. 266-267.

slides:

• Motorcycle Accident, 1969 (fibreglas polychromed in oil, life size figure with motorcycle)
• Florida Shopper, 1973
• Shoppers, 1976. (Vinyl polychromed in oil with accessories, life size.)
• Museum Guard, 1976
• Beagle in a Basket, 1981
• Football Player, 1981
• Tourists (fibreglas, polyester, polychromed with accessories, life size.)
• Man with a Camera, 1989

DE ANDREA

• born Denver, Co., 1941
• attended U Colo, Boulder
• nude figures cast from life
• fibreglas reinforced polyester resin
• Quote: "I always work towards some type of beauty and I thought if nothing else comes of this at least I'm going to make a beautiful figure... I set up my own world and it's a very peaceful world -- at least my sculptures are." reprinted in Chilvers, op. cit., p. 161.

slides:

• Seated Woman, 1978
• Untitled (several of these)
• Self-Portrait with Sculpture, 1980