Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture, born in the early 1970s in the United States, where the artists reproduce reality in photographic terms in their canvases and sculptures.
The artist focuses on the subject and he arrives to a reproduction that surpasses the real for quantity and quality of detail, often using additional elements to create the illusion of a reality that doesn’t exist or can’t be seen from the human eye.
Hyperrealist artists don’t offer an interpretation of reality, but a mechanical reproduction, a depersonalized, inexpressive representation realized through exaggerated use of artistic technique.
The most recurring subjects are portraits, human figures, urban landscapes and cityscapes.
The most famous hyperrealist artists are: Richard Estes, Chuck Close, Paul Cadden, Gottfried Helnwein, Duane Hanson, John De Andrea.
The painter Richard Estes paints urban landscapes characterized by a huge amount of detail.
The painter Chuck Close produces portraits where the subjects are painted frontally with many small color tiles, like in a mosaic.
The painter Paul Cadden produces portraits that look like black and white photographs, with imperceptible details from the human eye.
The painter Gottfried Helnwein realizes portraits of children victims of violence, war and poverty, painted with a very white skin that contrasts with blood on the face and body.
The sculptor Duane Hanson portrays in his works ordinary people with an incredible amount of extremely realistic details: hair, clothes, accessories like glasses, bags, shoes.
The sculptor John De Andrea realizes naked women: the shapes are sensual but the coolness of the skin color looks like that of a corpse.