Hyperrealism. 50 Years of Painting

‘Hyperrealism. 50 years of painting’ presents three generations of US and European artists in a unique survey of Hyperrealist painting. Hyperrealism sprang up in the 1960s in the USA as a reaction to the dominant trend of Abstract, Minimal and Conceptual Art.

Taking their lead from Pop Art, a group of young American painters made their lives and objects, the product of the emerging consumer society, the theme of their work. They used photography as a source for their paintings by transferring existing images faithfully onto canvas. The paintings of everyday scenes and blown-up consumer commodities – from sweets and shiny car bumpers to ketchup bottles – attracted a lot of attention from both admirers and critics. The works of these artists, including Chuck Close, Robert Bechtle, Richard Estes, John Salt and Franz Gertsch, are painted with such meticulousness and precision that they look like photographs. With more than seventy works by a good thirty artists, this survey presents the history of a fascinating artistic movement. It follows the Kunsthal’s programmatic line of exhibitions connected with realism, such as Chuck Close, Duane Hanson, The Adventure of Reality | International Realism and Painting Now! Back to Figuration.