Richard Estes

Richard Estes is widely considered one of the masters of Photorealism, a form of hyperrealist painting where a photograph is projected onto the canvas as the source of the image and then painted. In Estes’ case, however, photographs are used only as a starting point. The main difference between Estes and other artists practicing this style is that Estes does not project an image onto a canvas and then paint it. He uses different photographs in order to stimulate the idea of the picture and then paints the work free handed, using the photographs and intuition to create the image. His mastery of painting and technical virtuosity allow him to create surfaces that evince an allover tonal richness, which combined with crystalline clarity of detail, engender a striking magnetic presence.

Estes has had solo exhibitions and retrospectives at a number of galleries and museums including The Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC. Group exhibitions include Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, The National Museum in Krakow, Krakow, Poland, National Academy of Design, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His work was included at the 1977 Whitney Biennial, New York, the 1972 Venice Biennale, and in 1996 Estes was awarded the MECA Award for Achievement as a Visual Artist.

—Courtesy of Marlborough Gallery