Beyond the Hype

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Beyond the Hype: An Exhibition of Contemporary Hyperrealist Art

When typing ‘Hyperrealism’ into a search engine, one is immediately confronted with a great number of lists and news stories celebrating and collating artworks that ‘you won’t believe are not photographs!’ Artists working in this genre have captured people’s imaginations, as viewers are thrilled by the illusion of reality forged through these individuals’ incredible technical skill. The intricate detail and realism of these artists’ work strains our perception and understanding, forcing us to look closer to appreciate the art and artistic image.

Darren Baker Gallery is pleased to announce a new show of Hyperrealist Art, opening this April and featuring our resident artist Darren Baker. This exhibition aims to delve a little deeper and go beyond the ‘hype’ surrounding Hyperrealism, showcasing the individual style, vision and techniques of an exciting group of artists. These artists all share an obsession with detail, most pieces taking hundreds of hours and enormous precision to complete. However, each artist’s work is different, reflecting how they perceive the world and the qualities magnified under the scrutiny of their particular artistic gaze.

Alongside Royal Artist Darren Baker, this exhibition includes rising star Charles Moxon, whose work is similarly inspired past techniques, particularly those of the Dutch Old Masters. Moxon’s intimate portraits are brought to life as he layers translucent glazes in the style of Vermeer, in order to give his paintings an inner light. There is an emphasis on producing ‘handmade’ works, which capture something beyond what can be seen and experienced through a photograph.

This can also be found in James Mylne’s painstaking recreation of images from fashion, film and popular culture, using an everyday ballpoint pen. Mylne, who has been featured in GQ, Stylist Magazine and on BBC News, produces drawings that restore the hand of the artist and sense of aura and authenticity to mass-produced images. His new work challenges the increasingly controversial pieces heralded in the Art World, through a return to the purity and beauty of the hand drawn image. The exhibition will also showcase works by John Williams, whose portrait of art critic and writer Edward Lucie-Smith was displayed in the BP Portrait Prize 2014 at the National Portrait Gallery. Paintings from Williams’ stunning series The Swim will be a highlight, featuring powerful portraits of swimmers captured mid motion in the water. 

In today’s networked culture where images can be created and shared without much effort or consideration, these artists represent an alternative, rejecting the ease and perfection of the virtual world, while also drawing inspiration from it. Hyperrealist art draws together the past and present and Darren Baker Gallery invites you to come and experience the time, skill and talent involved in rendering reality outside the digital.