I was thinking from my last post how I would like to find artists who create small details in oil paint. I know it is possible – I have seen it – and maybe if I study those artists I can learn more about their process. All of these artists I found through instagram.
Joel Rea is a highly acclaimed and multi award-winning artist known for his surreal, allegorical oil paintings. His paintings are a blend of hyperrealism, photorealism and virtuosic Renaissance realism. His themes include social awareness, personal introspection the animal kingdom, turmoil of human inner consciousness and our species’ unwavering desire to survive. His frequent include self-portraits; tigers; dogs; sun rays coming through clouds; and destructive waves. One reason he might be able to paint with so much detail is that he ends up practicing painting the same thing: animals, waves, etc. This is likely a natural evolution through creating series of artworks.
This next artist caught my eye as I was scrolling – Alena Shymchonak. She does a lot of beach paintings, but this one is of lillies. I like her use of impasto (thick paint application), strong vertical and horizontal lines of color, pulling and scuffling, and the balanced composition.
Ali-A-Beigi has serious skill. He founded Beigi Academy Of Art in 2001, now one of the most prestigious and eminent art classes in Tehran, which is authorized by Ministry of culture in Iran. He teaches hyper-realist portraiture like the image above. Check out one of his video tutorials here.
In 2000 Lynn Boggess decided to take a break from the studio and he went outside to paint some nature studies. On a whim, he took a cement trowel that was on a table near the basement door, which when used to apply paint, allowed for an immediacy that a brush could not. Because the tool covers large areas quickly, he is able to accurately record a specific time and place. Additionally, the thick paint behaved almost as a sculptural medium, giving the paintings a heightened physical presence. I appreciate this technique – not all detail is from outlines or single strokes of thin paint, but also includes capturing the sense of place or mood in what you are trying to represent, through color, form, medium, etc., and not just line.
MONICA HEISER 