Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high-resolution

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

. Hyperrealism is considered an advancement of

photorealism Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can b ...

by the methods used to create the resulting paintings or sculptures. The term is primarily applied to an independent art movement and art style in the United States and Europe that has developed since the early 1970s.

Carole Feuerman Carole A. Feuerman (born 1945) is an American sculptor and author renowned for her Realism (arts), superrealist art. She is recognized as one of the pioneering artists of the superrealism movement in the late 1970s and is best known for her figu ...

is the forerunner in the hyperrealism movement along with

Duane Hanson Duane Hanson (January 17, 1925 – January 6, 1996) was an American artist and sculptor born in Minnesota. He spent most of his career in South Florida. He was known for his life-sized realistic sculptures of people. He cast the works based on ...

and John De Andrea.

History

The art dealer Isy Brachot coined the French word ''hyperréalisme'', meaning

hyperrealism Hyperreality is a concept in post-structuralism that refers to the process of the evolution of notions of reality, leading to a cultural state of confusion between signs and symbols invented to stand in for reality, and direct perceptions of ...

, as the title of a major exhibition and catalogue at his gallery in Brussels in 1973. The exhibition was dominated by such American photorealists as

Ralph Goings Ralph Goings (May 9, 1928 – September 4, 2016) was an American Painting, painter closely associated with the Photorealism movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was best known for his highly detailed paintings of hamburger stands, pick- ...

Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealism, photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits ...

Don Eddy Don Eddy (born 1944) is a contemporary representational painter.Martin, Alvin. "Spaces of the Mind: New paintings by Don Eddy," ''Arts'', February 1987, p. 22–3.Baker, Kenneth"Don Eddy,"''Artforum'', March 1972. Retrieved March 4, 2021. He ga ...

Robert Bechtle Robert Alan Bechtle (May 14, 1932 – September 24, 2020) was an American Painting, painter, printmaker, and educator. He lived nearly all his life in the San Francisco Bay Area and whose art was centered on scenes from everyday local life. His p ...

and Richard McLean; but it included such influential European artists as Domenico Gnoli,

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced Abstract art, abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and Glass art, glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important con ...

, Konrad Klapheck, and . Since then, ''hyperealisme'' has been used by European artists and dealers to apply to painters influenced by the photorealists. Among contemporary European hyperrealist painters we find Gottfried Helnwein, Willem van Veldhuizen and Tjalf Sparnaay, Roger Wittevrongel, as well as the French Pierre Barraya, Jacques Bodin, Ronald Bowen, François Bricq, Gérard Schlosser, Jacques Monory, Bernard Rancillac, Gilles Aillaud and Gérard Fromanger. Early 21st century hyperrealism was founded on the aesthetic principles of photorealism. American painter

Denis Peterson Denis Peterson (born New York, 1944) is an American hyperrealist painter whose photorealist works have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Tate Modern, Springville Museum of ...

, whose pioneering works are universally viewed as an offshoot of photorealism, first usedThompson, Graham, ''American Culture in the 1980s'', Edinburgh University Press, 2007, pp. 77–79. "hyperrealism" to apply to the new movement and its splinter group of artists. Graham Thompson wrote "One demonstration of the way photography became assimilated into the art world is the success of photorealist painting in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is also called super-realism or hyper-realism and painters like Richard Estes,

Audrey Flack Audrey Lenora Flack (May 30, 1931 – June 28, 2024) was an American visual artist. Her work pioneered the art genre of photorealism and encompasses painting, printmaking, sculpture, and photography. Flack had numerous academic degrees, includi ...

, and

often worked from photographic stills to create paintings that appeared to be photographs." However, hyperrealism is contrasted with the literal approach found in traditional photorealist paintings of the late 20th century. Hyperrealist painters and sculptors use photographic images as a reference source from which to create a more definitive and detailed rendering, one that often, unlike photorealism, is narrative and emotive in its depictions. Strict Photorealist painters tended to imitate photographic images, omitting or abstracting certain finite detail to maintain a consistent over-all pictorial design. They often omitted human emotion, political value, and narrative elements. Since it evolved from pop art, the photorealistic style of painting was uniquely tight, precise, and sharply mechanical with an emphasis on mundane, everyday imagery. Hyperrealism, although photographic in essence, often entails a softer, much more complex focus on the subject depicted, presenting it as a living, tangible object. These objects and scenes in hyperrealism paintings and sculptures are meticulously detailed to create the illusion of a reality not seen in the original photo. That is not to say they're surreal, as the illusion is a convincing depiction of (simulated) reality. Textures, surfaces, lighting effects, and shadows appear clearer and more distinct than the reference photo or even the actual subject itself. Hyperrealism has its roots in the philosophy of

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard (, ; ; – 6 March 2007) was a French sociology, sociologist and philosopher with an interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as hi ...

, "the simulation of something which never really existed." As such, hyperrealists create a false reality, a convincing illusion based on a simulation of reality, the

digital photograph Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronics, electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens (optics), lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. ...

. Hyperreal paintings and sculptures are an outgrowth of extremely high-resolution images produced by digital cameras and displayed on computers. As photorealism emulated

analog photography Film photography or classical photography, also known by the retronym analog photography, is a term usually applied to photography that uses chemical processes to capture an image, typically on paper, film or a hard plate. These processes were ...

, hyperrealism uses digital imagery and expands on it to create a new sense of reality. Hyperrealistic paintings and sculptures confront the viewer with the illusion of manipulated high-resolution images, though more meticulous.

Style and methods

The hyperrealist style focuses much more of its emphasis on details and the subjects. Hyperreal paintings and sculptures are not strict interpretations of photographs, nor are they literal illustrations of a particular scene or subject. Instead, they use 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; a distinct departure from the older and considerably more literal school of photorealism. Hyperrealist painters and sculptors make allowances for some mechanical means of transferring images to the canvas or mold, including preliminary drawings or

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; , from ''gris'' 'grey') means in general any European painting that is painted in grey. History Giotto used grisaille in the lower registers of his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua () and Robert Campin, Jan van Ey ...

underpainting In art, an underpainting is an initial layer of paint applied to a Ground (art), ground, which serves as a base for subsequent layers of paint. Underpaintings are often monochromatic and help to define color values for later painting. Underpainting ...

s and molds. Photographic slide projections or multi media projectors are used to project images onto canvases and rudimentary techniques such as gridding may also be used to ensure accuracy. Sculptures utilize polyesters applied directly onto the human body or mold. Hyperrealism requires a high level of technical prowess and virtuosity to simulate a false reality. As such, hyperrealism incorporates and often capitalizes upon photographic limitations such as depth of field, perspective and range of focus. Anomalies found in digital images, such as fractalization, are also exploited to emphasize their digital origins by some hyperrealist painters, such as

, Bert Monroy and

Themes

Subject matter ranges from portraits, figurative art, still life, landscapes, cityscapes and narrative scenes. The more recent hyperrealist style is much more literal than photorealism as to exact pictorial detail with an emphasis on social, cultural or political themes. This also is in stark contrast to the newer concurrent photorealism with its continued avoidance of photographic anomalies. Hyperrealist painters at once simulate and improve upon precise photographic images to produce optically convincing visual illusions of reality, often in a social or cultural context. Some hyperrealists have exposed

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

regimes and third world military governments through their narrative depictions of the legacy of hatred and intolerance.

and Gottfried Helnwein depicted political and cultural deviations of societal decadence in their work. Peterson's work focused on

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

s, genocides and

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

. Helnwein developed unconventionally narrative work that centered on past, present and future deviations of the

holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Provocative subjects include enigmatic imagery of genocides, their tragic aftermath and the ideological consequences. Thematically, these controversial hyperreal artists aggressively confronted the corrupted human condition through narrative paintings as a phenomenological medium. These lifelike paintings are an historical commentary on the grotesque mistreatment of human beings. Hyperreal paintings and sculptures further create a tangible solidity and physical presence through subtle lighting and shading effects. Shapes, forms and areas closest to the forefront of the image visually appear beyond the frontal plane of the canvas; and in the case of sculptures, details have more clarity than in nature. Hyperrealistic images are typically 10 to 20 times the size of the original photographic reference source, yet retain an extremely high resolution in color, precision and detail. Many of the paintings are achieved with an

airbrush An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that atomizes and sprays various media, most often paint, but also ink, dye, and make-up. Spray painting developed from the airbrush and is considered to employ a type of airbrush. History Up unt ...

, using acrylics, oils or a combination of both. Ron Mueck's lifelike sculptures are scaled much larger or smaller than life and finished in incredibly convincing detail through the meticulous use of polyester resins and multiple molds. Bert Monroy's digital images appear to be actual paintings taken from photographs, yet they are fully created on computers.

Hyperrealists

* Alison Van Pelt * Andreas Orosz * Antonio López * Anthony Brunelli * Arinze Stanley Egbe *

Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto (Barcelona, 20 January 1964) is a Spanish Hyperrealism (visual arts), hyperrealist painter who specialises in historical military paintings that portray different eras of the Spanish Armed Forces through hyperrealis ...

* Ben Johnson *

Ben Schonzeit Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...

* Bert Monroy * Bertrand Meniel * Boris Dragojevic * CJ Hendry *

Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in the ...

* Claudio Bravo * Clive Head * David Kassan *

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

* David Parrish * Davis Cone *

* Dennis Wojtkiewicz * Dimitri Desiron *

* Don Jacot * Dragan Malesevic Tapi *

* Eric Dillman * Eric Zener * Fola David * Franz Gertsch * Frederic Gracia * Gilles Paul Esnault * Glennray Tutor * Gottfried Helnwein * Gus Heinze * Hilo Chen *

Howard Kanovitz Howard Kanovitz (February 9, 1929 – February 2, 2009) was a pioneering painter in the Photorealism, Photorealist and Hyperrealism (painting), Hyperrealist Movements, which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in response to the abstract art movem ...

* Hynek Martinec * Ian Hornak * István Sándorfi * Jack Mendenhall * Javier Arizabalo * Jerry Ott * John Baeder * John De Andrea * John Kacere *

John Salt John Salt (2 August 1937 – 13 December 2021) was an English artist, whose greatly detailed paintings from the late 1960s onwards made him one of the pioneers of the photorealist school. Although Salt's work developed through several distin ...

* Jorge Melicio * Joseph Canger * José Ramón Muro * Juan Francisco Casas * Juan Gonzalez * Kamalky Laureano * Kelvin Okafor * Ken Nwadiogbu * León Orozco * Lorena Kloosterboer * Malcolm Morley * Marilyn Minter * Mark Jenkins *

Maurizio Cattelan Maurizio Cattelan (; born 21 September 1960) is an Italian visual artist. Known primarily for his hyperrealistic sculptures and installations, Cattelan's practice also includes curating and publishing. His Satire, satirical approach to art has re ...

* Michal Ožibko * Noah Creshevsky * Oresegun Olumide * Oscar Ukonu * Otto Duecker * Patricia Piccinini * Patrick Chuka * Paul John Wonner *

Paul Thek Paul Thek (November 2, 1933 – August 10, 1988) was an American painter, sculptor and installation artist. Thek was active in both the United States and Europe, exhibiting several installations and sculptural works over the course of his life. Po ...

http://www02.zkm.de/thek/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=37 www02.zkm.de] * Peter Anton * Peter Maier *

* Randy Dudley * Raphaella Spence * Richard Estes * Richard McLean *

* Robert Cottingham * Robert Gniewek * Robert Neffson * Roberto Bernardi * Robin Eley * Rod Penner *

Ron Kleemann Ron Kleemann (July 24, 1937 – May 30, 2014) was an American photorealist painter. Kleemann has been recognized as one of the original artists of the Photorealism Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other gr ...

* Ron Mueck * Rudolf Häsler * Sebastian Krüger * Taner Ceylan * Terry Rodgers * The Kid * Tom Blackwell * Tjalf Sparnaay * Willem van Veldhuizen * Yigal Ozeri *

Zharko Basheski Zharko Basheski () (born 11 August 1957) is a Macedonian sculptor and professor in the Sculpture Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje. His work falls under the Hyperrealism (visual arts), hyperrealism movement, with a specific focus ...

References

External links