Richard Estes

(Courtesy of Widewalls)

(Courtesy of Widewalls)

Luis Martinez, Writer

Though I may have talked about many talented people, this artist may be my favorite out of all of them, mainly for the fact that they’re able to create things I never thought a human could be able to create. Richard is very talented with his painting skills, being able to paint whilst having the ability to create pieces involving hyperrealism, and photorealism. With these talents, he made a smart move combing the two together. One look at his paintings, and you’ll believe you’d be looking at a real picture.

Though I may have talked about many talented people, this artist may be my favorite out of all of them, mainly for the fact that they’re able to create things I never thought a human could be able to create. Richard is very talented with his painting skills, being able to paint whilst having the ability to create pieces involving hyperrealism, and photorealism. With these talents, he made a smart move combing the two together. One look at his paintings, and you’ll believe you’d be looking at a real picture.

 

(Photo by Lee Stalsworth)

Believe or not, the image is only one of many paintings. Many have given a name to his style of art, they call it, “Photorealist Paintings.” Though not much is known about Estes, we know for sure he has incredible gifts. Estes was born on May 14, 1932. Before painting, he was a graphic designer for a few magazines in Chicago and Spain. Though he didn’t have much time to paint, he painted when he could. And to his luck, he was able to paint whenever he desired.

Though his life had been going well already, it got even better when he received a Mecca reward as an achievement for being a successful visual artist. His most recent publicly known action is his 2017 exhibition, where he showed 14 of his paintings.

Estes’s years of work have been quite impressive knowing he hasn’t retired even at his current age. Though he hasn’t done much since 2018. We know his skill with photorealism is well known, however, he also has an old style of art not many artists do anymore. His other style of art is known as “Contemporary Realism.” This style of art doesn’t focus too much on detail, but it can be considered bold knowing this style is done by being straightforward with art.

Richard has painted over 130 paintings and over 60 of his works are on paper. Richard Estes is currently over 80 years old and lives in New York.

In all, I believe Richard Estes is very talented and has amazing detail in his paintings. The way he makes glass reflect light and the much detail he puts into the people who happen to be part of his painting can only be known as, simply amazing. I noticed he focuses on painting anonymous roads and sidewalks, not to mention cars too. Though his focal points are somewhat random, there’s no specific spot of attention knowing the whole painting could be considered the true beauty, or it may be a way to get others to realize more than one good spot.

If I could change one thing in his paintings, I’d like to see more of the sky and natural living things. In other words, I feel these things could make Estes’s paintings catch the eye of many others, knowing how his style of art seems to fit. But other than that, I believe this is one of the artists who is the closest to the meaning of perfect.