The Indian Artist: Is Hyperrealism Overrated?

Hello everyone! I hope that you all are well. I know that I have been a little MIA. This past week has been very difficult for me mentally and emotionally. I hope that you are all taking the time to check in and take care of yourselves, especially with the plethora of midterms and papers infesting our lives this week. I thought that I would approach an interesting question that I was exposed to the other day. What is the point of hyperrealism when we have photography?

I thought that I would address this question when doing research on one of my favorite artists: Jono Dry. He is an incredible hyperrealist artist who works primarily in graphite. He is able to produce work with striking lighting and thought-provoking subjects to portray incredible photo-realistic images. The thought behind this post was to address what the point of creating such painstakingly detailed works is when a camera could be used to create the same effect in a much easier way.

Jono struggled with this question earlier on in his career as well, wondering why he spent so much time creating something that could have just been photographed.

For me, I have always been so drawn to photo-realism. Being able to capture something so raw and untouched, so pure and real, has been revolutionary from the beginning of art history. Photorealism is an incredible way of demonstrating the different aspects of the human condition in such a believable way without sacrificing on the creating and artistic opportunities within it. When looking at a piece of artwork that has been so meticulous crafted as if to resemble a photograph while also demonstrating surrealist aspects, the viewer has no choice but to believe in the vision of the artist.

Jono says that “there is a catharsis in the pursuit of perfection”. For me as a viewer, looking at the immense amount of detail in a piece and understanding what the artist has gone through to achieve an incredibly realistic image is incomparable to just viewing a photo of the same subject. As the artist, putting in hours, days, months, into creating something so striking and believable, the end result is a badge of honor that makes the commodity of time worthwhile. The hopes of any artist is to get a viewer to connect with the piece. Hyperrealism reflects life so honestly back at the viewer and forces one to move closer, look deeply into the eyes of the subject, take in all of the work of the artist.

I hope this post gave a little more insight into hyperrealism as I see it. It is an incredible pursuit and magnificent when achieved, something that I strive to be able to bring out of my artwork. I have attached links to Jono Dry’s Instagram and website here. Please go check him out. He is a mastermind.

As always if anything that I discussed in this post stands out, or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

Looking forward to next Monday!

~ Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Personal website: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/