Richard Estes: critical analysis and commentary

Estes

Richard Estes Response

This author defines postmodernism as incorporating technology and diversity into art, specifically the photographic art form. The example offered of this phenomenon is Richard Estes' photorealism, where photographs are translated into the artistic medium of a painting. The author compliments the detail in Estes' works.

Although it is not discussed in the essay, one cannot help but wonder if Estes has another philosophical project in mind besides merely showing the potential or limits of technology. Is Estes showing the limits of photography or the ability of a human artist to depict realism in a way that defies photography's supposed superiority to the plastic arts in showing how things 'really' are? The author notes that Estes often changes what he sees in the photograph, including or eliminating images, depending on what he sees in his mind. For example Estes eliminates human beings, in one of his pictorial renditions. What is Estes saying about modern life, about humanity in a technological age? Is he saying that human beings are dehumanized by the perfect representation of figures in a photograph?

The author has selected an interesting artist, because the use of realism during the postmodern era of art, an era that seems dominated by abstraction and surrealism is unique, and Estes' work is certainly worth greater scrutiny. The idea of superrealism, or showing even more attention to detail than even some photographs themselves, or using the artist's talent to take mental images and make them into a pseudo-photograph, almost like trick photography, seems to be a way of destabilizing our notions of what is real. But this idea and how it relates to postmodernism does not really emerge from the essay. Would trick photography to show an image in the artist's mind have the same effect and meaning? However, the essay provokes many questions about Estes' intention, stated or implied.