SUPER REALIST ARTISTS Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Duane

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SUPER REALIST ARTISTS

• Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Duane Hanson

Richard Estes, Paris Street Scene
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Recap artists studied under Realism
Superrealism

• Realist Painter
• Edward Hopper
• Realist Sculptor
• George Segal
• Super realist Photorealist painters
• Richard Estes
• Audrey Flack
• Super realist sculptor
• Duane Hanson

Richard Estes, Grants, 1972, National Gallery of
Australia
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Realism Super realism

• REALISM
• Like pop art, Realist artists aimed to bring the
  real world into art ? more accessible
• Non-idealised view of world
• Suggests psychological states often loneliness
  / isolation
• Sense of detachment
• Use traditional painting media (oil, watercolour,
  plaster)

• SUPER REALISM / PHOTOREALISM /HYPERREALISM
• Based on the cameras vision ? so works often
  cropped, or show a shallow depth of field
• Interest in reflections, signs
• Illusion v. reality
• Everyday, Real-life subjects
• Often use modern methods (photography,
  airbrushing, polychrome)

REACTION TO the messy Ab-Ex works, and the loss
of subject matter brought about by abstraction
and minimalism
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Richard Estes Supreme Hardware1974

• Comment on Estess choice of subject
• How does this work differ from Edward Hoppers
  Gas above?
• Use 4 adjectives to describe Estess style
• To what extent does this capture reality?

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Richard Estes, Telephone Booths 1967

• What is the subject / setting?
• Style Comment on the composition
• Use of light
• Use of signage?
• Form how does he create a play between the real
  / illusion of real?
• Effect of whole on mood?
• To what extent does this show reality?

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Summary Richard Estes

• Method
• Uses several photographs as source
• Oil / brush does not blend edges, works quickly
  brushstrokes are visible
• Closest viewing distance is 1m from canvas
  (unusual)
• Subjects
• Unpopulated City scenes
• Gleaming reflective surfaces
• Works have a timeless quality not a specific
  time of day

• Style
• Modern trompe loeil
• No single vanishing point invites eye to scan
  the image
• Blurs reality with illusion
• Ordered compositions
• Geometric, abstract quality to forms
• Painting is not done with ones emotions, it is
  done with the head.

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AUDREY FLACK

• PHOTO REALIST PAINTER

Wheel of Fortune ,vanitas, 1974-76. 2.4mx2.4m
Art is for people. I mean, if art isnt for
people, who is it for? And that is what is
important about Super realism -A Flack.
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Genre used by Flack Vanitas

• Symbolic Still Life ptgs 17th C Dutch artists
• Theme Transience. Life is brief death is
  coming soon. Nothing lasts.
• Vanitas vanities of life, e.g. things that
  give us pleasure now will eventually wither away.

ICONOGRAPHY What objects can you see? What
symbolism may they have?
ABOVE Hendrik Andrieszen, Vanitas Quiet Life,
1635
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Audrey Flack, Marilyn Vanitas 1977 2.43 m x
2.43 m

• How does the SIZE of the work make a statement?
• Media - What effect does the airbrushing in this
  image have?
• Composition - Are the objects randomly arranged
  or carefully composed?
• Analyse the iconography in this work discuss
  the meanings of at least 3 motifs
• What do you think the theme of this work is?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vzIJIBo9bJk0

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Flacks Marilyn Vanitas 1977

• Colours of rose, fruit more vivid than real
  life. Super real.
• Forms Pear relates to the ultra- feminine
  body shape pear like. Narrow waist, large
  hips. Idealised, air brushed like advertising.
• Iconography Conventional Vanitas elements show
  passing of time and aging (candle, hour glass,
  watch, fruit). Ie. A womans beauty does not
  last forever and Marilyns life was over too
  soon. (a candle in the wind!) Her smiling
  face/candle- emotive effect of her tragic death.
• Mirror image and make up also suggests the
  performance of femininity. Tools women use to
  become glamourous.
• Theme - suggests glamour and beauty is
  artificial, impermanent superficial.

Composition is shrine-like. Marilyn is the
goddess worshipped. Colour Marilyns
black/white image not real. Shows
representations have made her into a symbol of
ultimate femininity / all American girl
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Audrey Flacks Kennedy Motorcade 1964

• This work is much earlier than the Marilyn
  Vanitas paintings.
• What is SIMILAR about the subject matter / theme?
• What is DIFFERENT about the style?

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Audrey Flack Queen , 1976 (2m x 2m)

• Identify and explain the iconography in this work
• How would you describe Flacks style its
  effect?
• To what extent could this be considered a
  Feminist work?

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Iconography in Queen

• Shows Queen of Hearts card and Chess Queen
  although a powerful piece, in Chess, the womans
  destiny is controlled by the male King
• Double portrait of Flack mother shows
  relationship / aging. Inclusion of personal
  elements is a feature of feminist art. Emotive.
• Lipsticks, cosmetics masquerade of femininity
• Mirror in background the surface nature of
  make-up. Our obsession with creating an image
  for the world.
• Fruit / orange fertility, womens cycle but
  also things that die.

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Summary Audrey Flack

• Method
• Organises objects to make modern still lifes
• Photographs 100s and then chooses one
• Projects slide onto canvas and paints using
  airbrush, masking tape around each object
• Use of airbrush commmercial medium a challenge
  to high art

• Style
• Exploits photographic vision contrast between
  sharp / soft focus. Often no single focal point.
• Very large scale
• Vibrant colours
• Complex symbolism from everyday objects
• Emotionally charged unlike other Realists who
  are cool / detached
• Some works have feminist subject matter, some
  personal, others political

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Audrey Flacks interestsFrom your American Art
Reader page 73

• Her works often deal with human desire for luxury
  and adornment Flack says whether youre
  putting on a mudcake or lipstick from
  Bloomingdales, its all part of a very human
  instinct, and its important that its seen.
• Her Vanitas paintings chose images that relate
  to human tragedy e.g. Marilyn, fate, war. Flack
  says I think all three paintings are a protest.
  They are saying fight back
• The objects all suggest the ephemerality of
  living things. She does so because she seeks to
  make the subject matter as well as the style of
  her work accessible to all.

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DUANE HANSON SUPER REALIST SCULPTOR
"I'm not duplicating life, I'm making a statement
about human values," Hanson said. "I show the
empty-headedness, the fatigue, the aging, the
frustration. These people can't keep up with the
competition. They're left out, psychologically
handicapped."
Self-Portrait with Model, 1979, polyvinyl
 
Over the course of his life, Duane Hanson
produced over 114 sculptures from life. He
died, prematurely in 1996, from a cancer possibly
related to the carcinogenic properties of the
plastics he used.
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An early work Bowery Derelicts 1969

• Hansons work began as a form of strong social
  protest.
• Bowery Derelicts shows homeless people lying in a
  rubbish scattered alley of New Yorks infamous
  Bowery district.
• Vietnam Scene 1969 showed Vietnamese war dead
• Riot 1967 - white policemen beating up black
  protesters during race riots in Georgia.

Duane Hanson, Bowery Derelicts, 1969-1970 .
polyester and fiberglass.
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Queenie II 1988 Supermarket Shopper 1970
Sculptures constructed from fiberglass, textiles,
shopping/cleaning cart, packaging /cleaning
products, polyester resin 66 x 130 x 65 cm
Choice of subject / figure? Iconography? Mood?
Viewer reponse? What is the effect of the
superrealism?
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• Supermarket Shopper is a humourous embodiment of
  conspicuous consumption.
• Hanson She began my satiric period. She is a
  symbol of the over consuming housewife.
• Instead of living, Hansons shopper is just
  existing, Rich enough to afford all the products
  television commercials have sold her as symbols
  of the good life, she remains a spiritual
  pauper.
• Which POP ARTIST does Hanson resemble in his
  ideas?
• (William Fleming, Arts Ideas. American Art
  Reader p116)

I prefer to stay away from unusual looking
people and try to produce a figure people can be
confronted with in their everyday lives.
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Ordinary people with great dignity

• Comment on Hansons choice of subjects, poses.
• What mood is conveyed?
• Is Hanson successful in terms of his quote?
• How would a viewer respond to these in a gallery
  setting?

LEFT TO RIGHT Tourists, 1988. Museum Guard
1975, Drug Addict Louisiana 1975
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Hansons method

• He first perfected his working method in 1965
• Each was originally cast from living models who
  were shaved greased with vaseline
• He made silicone rubber moulds of each section of
  the body after another
• Plaster moulds then applied over that
• Then vinyl casts made from this
• Soldering irons used to melt vinyl together
• Each body part was reassembled, coloured by hand
  using air brush and oil paint
• Human or synthetic hair was attached strand by
  strand by sewing into the scalp
• Figures were clothed usually polyester or other
  typical chain-store clothing used.

Photographer 1978
See p 181-182 Modern American Art Reader for more
information.
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Summary Duane Hanson

• SUBJECTS
• Real, ordinary people made to look totally life
  like blurs illusion and reality
• Viewer becomes a voyeur
• Blue collar Americans, e.g. cleaners, shoppers
• Mood jaded, disillusioned, bored, alienated
• Some scenes set in galleries raise questions on
  how we relate to art, and how art comments on
  society

• POINTS OF DIFFERENCE
• Not as detached as other super realists
  interested in the subjects emotion
• Some works convey social comment on the consumer
  driven society, poverty, vulgarity of middle
  class life, capitalism
• Sense of compassion / involvement in lives of
  subjects
• Shows a love-hate relationship with American
  culture / life

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QUIZ on Realism Super realism Write down the
names of

• Two ARTISTS / WORKS whose work often shows
  loneliness or isolation of Modern day American
  life
• Two WORKS that show a blurring between illusion
  and reality
• Two ARTISTS/WORKS that comment on political or
  social issues
• Two ARTISTS who use commercial or modern methods
  to create their works
• TWO ARTISTS who do NOT paint landscapes
• TWO WORKS that show a celebration of everyday
  American life
• TWO WORKS which contain complex iconography

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References / image sources

• http//www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1998/
  close
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Close
• www.audreyflack.com
• http//www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/duane_han
  son.htm
• http//www.answers.com/topic/duane-hanson
• http//www.tfaoi.com/aa/6aa/6aa368.htm
• www.andrewgrahamdixon.com/archive/readArticle/333
  
• http//www.nrw-museum.de/output/controller.aspx?ci
  d123detail2detail27