Photorealism - what's your opinion?

[Allan Rahbek]

I believe that PR is a totally different style of painting and that it don

[Michele Rushworth]

As a style, Photorealism has a few detractors, who often dismiss it as pointless.

My thoughts exactly. Why recreate something in another medium (paint) so closely as to make it indistinguishable from the original (photo). That would be like creating a full scale model of the Eiffel Tower out of paperclips, so accurate as to be indistinguishable from the original. Why bother?

[Janet Kimantas]

I wonder if Photorealism is more about having something to prove than about having something to say?

[Michele Rushworth]

Well put!

[Heidi Maiers]

Good (and interesting) commentaries from you all. I came across this site and had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the technological aspects of how on earth they are able to do that is incredible. On the other hand, the work itself as a

[Molly Sherrick Phifer]

One of the things that is not so obvious about this fellow's work is that much (if not most) of his photorealistic art is not only not done with photo references, but can't be done with photo references. He does quite a lot of high tech artwork for the military and if you look at some of that work, you'll see that he hasn't copied any pictures. That's where photorealism becomes an art. When it is used not to copy a photo, but to produce a photo "quality" image that could not (or at least not easily) be taken with a camera.
For an example, take a look at this one: Timing is Everything

Having said all that, I'm not a huge fan of PR style, but this guy is really amazing. Great thread!

[Allan Rahbek]

Molly,
This "Timing is everything" is a combination of two photos.
The scout scene is taken with the sun coming in from the right as you see on the trees and Donald Duck