Davis Cone, Thompson, 1980, acrylic on canvas, 55 x 39 inches, Courtesy of Monica and Richard Segal
From February 5 to May 13, 2012 – Vero Beach Museum of Art
Beyond Reality include works of American art that are closely associated with the concept of photo-realism, and also ultra-illusionistic paintings and sculpture that add an expressive dimension to the viewer’s understanding of realism. As an art movement, hyperrealism has spanned a broad range of subject matter, materials, and stylistic variations in works of art by artists as different from each other as John De Andrea, Richard Estes, and John Baeder. Beyond Reality will demonstrate connections between contemporary American hyperrealism and 20th-century material culture, in light of Courbet’s concept that “Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.”
John De Andrea, Tara, 2002, polychromed bronze, 4-1/2 x 13-1/2 x 28”, courtesy of Monica and Rick Segal
The term “hyperrealism” was first used by art dealer Ivan Karp and some of his contemporaries around 1970. Other art critics more often used the terms photorealism or New Realism at the same time. However, hyperrealism can include photorealism as well as other highly detailed styles of realism. It is a term that can also be applied to sculpture, as in the work of Duane Hanson and Marc Sijan. Nearly all hyperrealist painters have used photographs for reference, but some, such as Richard Estes and Robert Bechtle, seem to retain more of the look of a photograph in their work. John Baeder and Davis Cone also work from photographs, but they subtly manipulate or exaggerate what was present in their reference photos.
Beyond Reality also include paintings and sculpture on loan from nationally-recognized artists as well as museums and major private collections, and works by Richard Estes, Duane Hanson, and Robert Bechtle among others.
