I've never been a fan of photorealism. I love photography and painting, but the two melded together have never....attracted me. I always felt that photorealist pieces tend to get jam packed with as much texture, surface, and objects as possible; an extension of those ridiculous school-project still-lifes containing 87 glass jars, a variety of vases and bowls and usually something odd like an antler or a mannequin head. They just look set-up...fake. And while I respect the work for the time and talent required to create such a wide variety of surface textures, they have always come across as rather normal scenes without great composition, color scheme or focus...kind of like a below average photograph. Now there are definite exceptions (The MAM has some very interesting photorealist work), but as a whole I usually feel like I am just looking at photographs without a great sense of compositional relationship...they are kind of just...blah.
However there are some people that, while maybe not true photorealists, create some very realistic pieces with a much more interesting surreal or psychological skew. Mike Fredrickson, A local artist that has been a constant part of the art and music scene for a long time, has managed to creep into that realm subtly but effectively. He catches the subject in times that have no need for a translation into fine art but, because of that, the pieces peer into a much more personal side of life. The subjects are comfortable and feel real, but almost seem like we are peering into a scene from afar. Some subjects seem like they've been stopped on the street and had a the photo snapped, throwing forth their best funny face or pose, or just sitting normally in the same way they would as if having a conversation.
The portraits are nonchalant and informal. The artists doesn't seem to be poking them and setting their arms in specific poses. He isn't directing their attitude or the amount they smile. They are like a photo taken at the most random of times, nothing important, nothing meaningful, and with that I think that you get a real sense of the subject. The difference I find between Mike's work and many other photo-realists is the personality. Other people seem to have the surfaces as the subject. The plastic, the gravel...the entire point of the piece is to imitate the material. With Mike's work the subject is getting to the person themselves. Getting under the material. This is where you get more than objects on a table or perfectly modeled skin over a skeleton, you get personality with all its quirks, bumps, laughter, and intimacy. That is what I connect to in art, and that is what separates Mark's work from other photorealists.
More paintings below:
http://my.execpc.com/~artkm/Fredrickson-Lawson1
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