Thursday Salute to Originals: Photo or Faux?
Open up Photoshop and you’re instantly besieged with a variety of tools that mimic the act of physically creating art. Paint brush, clone stamp, eraser, color mixers, layers, transparency, textures and filters galore, all aimed to give your digital creation a unique look just with the click of a button. With some PS savvy and a skillfully combined use of tools, it’s relatively easy to make your digital art appear to be something its not. (Oh, so Brad Pitt wasn’t actually your date to prom?? And that sunset wasn’t so perfectly vibrant in real life?)
But what’s not so easy to do is make traditional paintings – yes, those done by hand with paint, a brush, and canvas – mimic a photograph. And we’re not talking about a painting just looking reminiscent of a photo. We’re talking a painting that is executed so impeccably, so meticulously, that you would never in a million years guess that it’s not a snapshot. Sounds impossible right? But that’s just what artist Patrick Kramer does best. He has an unbelievable talent for creating paintings that are mistaken for photographs.
In Kramer’s work, the highlights, the shadow, the texture, line weights, detail, grain – all flawlessly executed to such a degree that the viewer is convinced what he or she is looking at is an actual photograph, even though its just paint on canvas . In fact, a few members of our office still refuse to believe these aren’t real photos – they are THAT good. But don’t take our word for it. Take a look for yourself, would you have ever guessed these are paintings done purely by hand?
For making us do the double take of the year, we salute Kramer and his crazy realistic paintings. The temptations of camera and computer technology are alluring, yet Kramer resists those urges to showcase his traditional means and methods within a deliberate (and undoubtedly more time consuming) process. Wonder if we could commission him to paint Zaha Hadid admiring one of our backlit onyx projects? Now THAT would be a good addition to our portfolio!
Image Credits: Twisted Sifter; Patrick Kramer Art; Deviant Art (Matt); Deviant Art (Fish)