Double self-portrait by Richard Estes

Double self-portrait 1976

0:00
0:00

painting, oil-paint

# 

photorealism

# 

painting

# 

oil-paint

# 

cityscape

# 

modernism

# 

realism

# 

building

Copyright: Richard Estes,Fair Use

Richard Estes made this painting, “Double self-portrait,” with oil on canvas; it's a game of seeing and being seen. His approach to the urban landscape, with its dizzying reflections, makes you wonder about the real and the unreal, the surface and the depth. Look at how he captures the textures, the sheen of the glass, the dullness of the concrete, it’s all so precise. There's a blurry figure, Estes himself, caught in the middle of the scene, camera in hand. It's like he's saying, “I'm here, I'm part of this, but also apart from it." The reflections create a layering effect; you're looking at the diner and through it, into another world. He is an observer and the observed. You could see something of Gerhard Richter in the way Estes plays with focus and blurs the line between representation and abstraction. Both artists engage with the materiality of paint, but where Richter revels in gesture, Estes seems to embrace meticulousness. In the end, the painting doesn't offer answers, but rather invites you to get lost in its shimmering, reflective surfaces.

Show more

Comments

No comments

Be the first to comment and join the conversation on the ultimate creative platform.