What is hyperrealism?

Hyperrealists were also called superrealists, photorealists, precisionists, or new-realists.

Denominations that came to have a single meaning.

We can find antecedents of hyperrealism in examples such as the image that we can see above, of Harnett, an American of Irish origin who already stood out in 1890 for his works of still lifes or this work “The Faithful Colt” where he demonstrates all his skill.

From the previously reviewed exhibition, others followed one another throughout the United States and in later years until reaching the 1970s.

Moment in which hyperrealism arrives in Europe. It came to the old continent as one of the latest avant-garde innovations.

Although hyperrealism has remained as a successor to Pop Art, due to its interest in popular culture and in a large number of aspects of the consumer society.

The movement and the form of artistic expression caused a sensation.

This is attested to by a review in Life magazine, from April 1970, in which it was pointed out that in the exhibitions of the Whitney Museum in New York, the guards checked the rooms several times to verify that no visitor remained because “the portraits were so real that visitors were confused with them.

There are many names that orbited at the beginning of this movement that have never been considered as unitary.

A. Flack, H. Kanovitz, M. Morley, R. Goings (two of his works can be seen at the bottom), D. Parrish, R Cottingham, R. Estes or Ch Close, to name a few. some of the most prominent

As noted, hyperrealism was not a movement unequivocally followed by all artists.

Two currents or trends stood out: one close to photographic realism of pop origin; and another closer to traditional and academic pictorial art inspired by great painters such as Correggio, Velazquez or Vermeer.

Although they denied being photographers, there is no doubt that photography had a decisive influence on the hyperrealist conception.

«My Nikon becomes an extension of my own eyes. Thanks to its optical possibilities, it sees things that I can’t see”, pointed out A. Flack.

Magical Realism was how the Spanish painters who practiced (practice) this artistic form were known.

Names like Antonio López, Isabel Quintanilla, Francisco and Julio López Hernandez, who also became known to the general public at the beginning of the 1970s.

Hyperrealistic art, which shows what happens in gas stations, cafeterias and shops located at the foot of the road.