Ralph Goings, Photorealist

http://www.ralphlgoings.com/

by ilovecomputers • 17 years ago

20 18 17 years ago

jemka• 17 years ago

It's interesting to see his work improve over the years. I imagine the improvement is in part from the advancements in photography equipment.

What I don't understand is how anyone can draw/paint anything that realistic. Especially his most recent work. I doubt I would even be able to tell had I not know that wasn't a photo.

barrkel• 17 years ago

As to technique: I expect he's using a modern version of camera obscura or similar, using e.g. a projector slide (i.e. non-negative negative) for a base.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_lucida

etc.

jacquesm• 17 years ago

according to this pdf:

http://www.ralphlgoings.com/downloads/j_parks_article.pdf

Your 'expectation' is dead on. In a way that's a pity! That way 'painting' gets reduced to painting over a projection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorealism

It's a strange use of the word 'painting', which to me does not bring an association with projecting an image on to the canvas with it.

capablanca• 17 years ago

He really likes Heinz ketchup

reginaldo• 17 years ago

Can't blame him for that... It's really awesome, isn't it?

cpach• 17 years ago

It would be interesting to see some of his works in greater detail, eg. using Gigapan zoom (see http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=27105 for a photographic example).

dc2k08• 17 years ago

My high-school art teacher once questioned painters like these: "why not just take a photo?"

EAMiller• 17 years ago

I usually ask that question too.

I have a kind of half-formed theory that despite the fact that so many people like art based on the "wow, it looks so real" factor - it's actually the extent to which it DOESN'T look real, but still references reality that it's impressive.

In this particular work, there's kind of a glowing, excruciating detail that you don't get from photos, or from looking at those kinds of objects normally. Artwork would have to be pretty boring to really "look real."

asdlfj2sd33• 17 years ago

My college art teacher told me these are done by taking a photo, making a slide out of it, and projecting that slide onto the canvas.

Apparently some of the old master painter used a camera obscura and one might have even nudged his in the middle of a painting thus moving one of the ears way out whack in the final painting.

I can't be bothered to google it right now.

And I'm not accusing this guy of doing it that way, but how would you know?

anigbrowl2• 17 years ago

That, or projecting it next to the canvas and copying. I don't object to this technique (in fact, I'm learning towards doing something similar for an art project I have in mind), but my first reaction to the work of this artist is that it's banal and suggests a refusal or fear of engaging with the subject in any meaningful way.

I'm a shy person myself and can relate to not wanting to snap a photo or sketch overtly, but 'here's what some people look like when they don't know you're staring' isn't revealing very much of anything.

If you like the hyper-realitic painterly technique but (like me) prefer a more provocative application of it, you may share my enjoyment of Istvan Sandorfi: http://www.fosaw.com/ I can't afford any of his art, but I have spent a few hundred bucks on buying the catalogs.

jacoblyles• 17 years ago

It's like someone took a 17th century Dutchman and brought him to 20th century America.

volodia• 17 years ago

It's a shame that he doesn't paint something more compelling than ketchup. Photographers can create truly astonishing work based only on what they get through a lens. With his technique he could produce even more impressive and thought-provoking images, and that would be worth much more artistically, IMO.

Ralph Goings, Photorealist

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