Among the hyperrealists on your website, I have not found some names that I usually see on the Internet classified as hyperrealists. The books on 20th century art that I have do not mention Hyperrealism at all. The books I have borrowed from the library mention Hyperrealism only marginally. Why are Hyperrealism and Photorealism often omitted from publications dealing with art and art history?
Dear Zoya,
The answer to the first part of your question is in fact the content of our website. It has been created with the awareness that on the Internet you encounter many works and artists described (inaccurately, in our opinion) as Hyperrealist. Regarding your second question, we have to state that, unfortunately, you are right - Photorealism of the 1960s and Hyperrealism derived from it have very little place in professional publications. In our opinion the problem is connected with the strong wave of abstract and conceptual art at that time, parallel to which was the figural tendency, but apparently it was not of interest to the authors of the books.
What is the difference between Photorealism and Hyperrealism? In the past I was trying to find a definition of the difference between those two styles, but I did not find anything specific. It seems to me that it is even the same epoch in art which is named differently in America and Europe. Is there any meaningful definition then?
Dear Federico,
You will find more regarding the differences in books dealing with Hyperrealism. But to us they do not seem to be completely clear and definition-like, therefore we have attempted to explain them more precisely on this website. Briefly, Photorealism, as the name says, finds its primary source of image in photography and respects its specific features. Hyperrealism tries to capture reality and even though, similar to Photorealism, it uses photography to do so, photographs are only a means of reaching reality. It is most understandable in sculpture, because statues in fact cannot be photorealistic (because a photograph is flat) and they are 3D as are their motifs.
I study painting at an art school and I am interested in Hyperrealism. As part of my studies, I would like to learn Hyperrealism, but none of the teachers use it in their work and on the Internet I only found some video workshops and instructional videos. Could you please tell me whether any of the American artists presented by you teaches students?
Dear Samantha,
we are very pleased with your interest in Hyperrealism, but we do not teach art so we do not have any information regarding possible teaching activities of the artists. We think that the best teacher should be the reality in which you move.
I would like to ask whether you are planning to post information on your website regarding future exhibitions of hyperrealists because as far as I can see there are only past events in the archives that you cannot visit any more, and I would also like to know whether it would be worthwhile creating a list of galleries on your website that could present hyperrealistic artists.
Dear Paul,
our website is not intended for disseminating information as quickly as you would like and we do not have any ambition to play the role of social media. As far as the world of private galleries interested in Hyperrealism is concerned, we will definitely not enter this sector, because we are going to remain a website that deals with the artistic contribution of Hyperrealism. We are not able to guarantee that the exhibits of such third parties are high quality hyperrealistic art, because private galleries often succumb to commercial influences.