Richard Estes (book review) Sandro Parmeggiani (Contributor)

290117: fascinating close inspection of 'hyper-realism' painting, sort of well known from the 1960 on in America, that can be seen as a response to non-figurative abstract expressionist, and pop-art. Estes is careful drafting, realistic, mostly urban, environments. this is a catalog of a show mounted in Italy, Spain, US, so accompanying essays are translated. colour reproductions are great. apparently he moved to use many photographs of sites, drew images, inspired by commercial art he had done, by lack of models, and the images of crowded New York are almost all empty of 'anecdotal' figures, though he found purely abstract work boring, pop-art 'silly'. his work is not simply representation: one point noted is that the human eye, the photograph lense, focuses either on the glass or surface, or subject seen through or reflected on- not both at the same time, which he does in layers, so you see both. some great images. essentially 'landscapes' with urban sites, made abstract, precise, luminous, in shop glass, in mirrors, in all reflected surfaces... why i like both this and say Ad Reinhardt is not clear. simply enjoy...