Photorealism & Photography

Left: Richard Combes (British-American, b. 1963), Collister Street After the Rain, 2021, Oil on Canvas

Right: Peter Simpson (British, b. 1989), Domestic Bliss, 2022, Oil on canvas

If a painting perfectly resembles a photograph, what would be the qualities that make it look like photography?

The qualities of photorealistic paintings come from the impeccable execution of reality. Depicting a sense of the way it should be or the way it has been, photorealistic paintings present a collective experience or knowledge of moments rather than capturing a moment.

Collister Street After the Rain, 2021 is a hyperrealistic painting that is executed with a sense of photography. The overall sense of the painting is a blend between reality and photography, especially due to the photography-like perspective of the painting and the realistic reflection of the puddle and the concrete.

Domestic Bliss, 2022 portraits qualities of photorealism in abstract way. While the painting renders an impression of surrealism, the gesture of opened windows and juxtaposition of fortune cookie evokes a photographic memory that gives the painting a realistic point of view.

Left: Horst P.Horst, Untitled, 1970-1980, Archival Pigment Print. Image courtesy of The Art Design Project (https://www.theartdesignproject.com/) | Miami, USA

Middle: Claudio Olivieri (Italian, b.1934), Untitled, 1970, Oil on canvas

Right: Cy Twombly (American, 1928-2011), Flowers, 2009, Colour dry-print

Above works are showing inter-connectedness between photography and painting. Whether the execution of photography evokes the techniques of painting, or the style of a painting suggests an impression of photographic outcome, it is an interesting quality to see the two different genres can be captured in an artwork.