Big Diamonds, 1979

Richard Estes is one of the defining artists of the photorealism movement. His most noteworthy works involve extremely realistic depictions of telephone booths. His impeccable pieces perfectly emulate the reflective surfaces he would see in the photographs he’d observe. The hyper-realistic art of Richard Estes leaps off of his canvases, falsely creating the illusion of a third dimension on a two-dimensional surface. His paintings frequently showcase windowed storefronts, basing them off of photographs he had taken himself. The majority of his photographs were taken of lesser-known New York cityscapes. They were taken in full-color during daylight hours as the light of the sun shifted upon the surfaces of his subjects, altering their nature and tone. A master of mimicry, Richard Estes paints by studying his own photographs of city landscapes and its geometric structures of artifice. Like a mirror image, he has produced works of art that contain elements of inversion. This involves text, signs, and symbols mirrored in the silvery surfaces of the pictures he’d duplicate. His pieces are finely detailed with a few exceptions. The paintings disinclude the noisy clutter of snow and litter that are byproducts of largely populated environments. The results yield vacant but immaculate portrayals of the structures and urban landscapes he has captured with his distinct double vision.