Artist of the Week: Hyper-Realistic Paintings by Omar Ortiz
“Painting is the most magical of mediums. The transcendence is truly amazing to me every time I go to a museum and I see how somebody figured another way to rub colored dirt on a flat surface and make space where there is no space or make you think of a life experience.”
– Chuck Close
Hyperrealism is one of the most interesting developments in the visual arts, and among the most recent. Hyperrealist works resemble high-resolution photographs; no coincidence, seeing that it is, itself, an of-shoot of the photorealist movement.
The term Hyperréalisme was first used in 1973 by Isy Brachot, a Belgian art dealer who used it as the name of a major art exhibition at his gallery in Brussels. The exhibition showcased American photorealists, such as Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Don Eddy, Robert Bechtle and Richard McLean, as well as influential European artists like Domenico Gnoli, Gerhard Richter, Konrad Klapheck, and Roland Delcol.
However, hyperrealism would not be used to describe an art movement until the early 2000’s, when American painter Denis Peterson applied the term to the new art movement founded on the aesthetic principles of photorealism and the splinter group of artists formed around it.
Although based on photorealism, hyperrealism is distinctly different. Whereas photorealist painters imitate the source photo, omitting certain fine details to keep it as “photographic” as possible, hyperrealist painters use the original image as a reference from which they build a more detailed and, many times, narrative and emotive rendering.
Another core difference between the two is in in the source images, themselves, or rather their format: photorealism emulated analog photography, hyperrealism, on the other hand, uses digital imagery to create works that appear more real than the original, or even reality itself.
Today we will be looking at some absolutely fantastic hyper-realistic paintings by Omar Ortiz.
The artist was born in 1977 in Guadalajara, Jalicos, Mexico, and he showed an interest in painting and illustration ever since he was a child.
During his studies for a degree in Graphic Design, he learned different techniques, such as hand drawing, pastels, charcoal, water colors, acrylics, and airbrushing, and upon finishing college, he decided to make a living as a painter.
The artist who he considers his main teacher is Carmen Alarcón, who’s oil painting classes he attended for the first time in 2002. He currently works exclusively with oil paint, as he considers it the noblest technique.
He had his first exhibition in 2005, called Pétalos y Espinas, in his hometown of Guadalajara, and was showcased in the press for the first time in 2007, when Spanish magazine El Arte y la Palabra published some of his works in their annual Libro Annuario Artelibre. This lead to his first exposition overseas, Algo mas que realismo, in Zaragoza, Spain in 2008.
2009 saw him exhibiting in the United Kingdom and Netherlands, mostly in London at the Blackheath Gallery.
His work is characterized as being minimalistic hyprerrealism, where the human body is the main focus of his pieces.
“His paintings act like intimate pieces, trapped in themselves, outside of space and context.”
The artists himself has this to say about his work:
“Since I started painting I have always tried to represent things as real as I can. Sometimes I succeed and some others I don´t but it´s a fact that it is very difficult for me to do otherwise.
I enjoy the challenge of reproducing skin tones and it´s nuances under natural light, particularly in bright conditions. I like simplicity in my pieces since I believe that excesses make us more poor rather than rich.”
Now it is time to show some of our favorite works of his. If you want to see more hyper-realistic works, check out our article on Ron Mueck’s mind-blowing sculptures.
To make it interesting, we thought we made split the paintings up in chronological order, so you can see how Omar has evolved over the years.
1. 2003
This is the first year after attending Carmen Alarcón’s courses, and he was only just starting to produce realistic art.
Emociones
This piece is called emotions, but we are guessing you already figured that one out. A lot of his works seem to take aesthetic cues from Frida Kahlo or Salvador Dali, and here it is especially obvious. It almost seems as if this is a close-up to a Kahlo painting, and what a beautiful close-up it is. The masculine, strong hand with hairy knuckles, and a single tear running down the index finger. An absolutely gorgeous scene.
Tela al Desnudo
Omar has a real passion for the nude, and it was already showing back in 2003. The is pose is beautiful, and the variations of white and grey contrast marvelously with the skin tones.
La Bañista
2. 2004
Anhelo
Espalda
Espiral Citrico
Oranges are a recurring theme in Ortiz’s works, making them a fantastic way of following how his style changes over the years. Here he excellently captures the texture of the orange peels, giving them a little shine, as well as small imperfections.
3. 2005
This is the year in which the artist had his first exhibition, and you can see a huge difference between this year and the previous. More use of shading, and an even greater attention to detail, adding up to what we think are some of his best works.
África Joven
Bodegón de Naranja
Like we said, the oranges are an excellent way of looking at how his style changes.
Contraste Horizontal
4. 2006
Colibries atraídos por el rojo
La azotea
Mujer y Pétalos
5. 2007
Modelo Barcelona
Soñando por un instante
El Vuelo
6. 2008
Diseñador
Diseñador means designer in Spanish, and that’s why we think this is kind of a self-portrait. We have a soft spot for still life, so we just had to put this piece on our list.
Dunas
Crumpled bed sheets really do kind of look like sand dunes.
Espiral Citrico
7. 2009
Amnesia
En el estudio
Relations
Hands are another leitmotif of Omar’s paintings, and the comprise some of his most expressive work, in our opinion.
8. 2010
Espiral Citrico
Deidad Feminina
Four
9. 2011
Dilema
Female deity in red
La espera
10. 2012
Earth Angels
El naciemento de Venus
Omar pays an homage to a classic work of art -The Birth of Venus- with this sensual piece that directly references the original by having it in the painting.
El orden del caos
And here he pays another homage, this time to the great Pablo Picasso.
11. 2013
Ángel II
Leap of Faith
This is a great example of how the name is an integral part of the painting. By calling it Leap of Faith, it is not simply a moment captured in time, but has an entire story behind it. What might initially look like an overly macho handshake, suddenly becomes the story of someone taking a leap of faith, and being caught.
Contemplación
12. 2014
El Secreto
La mirada del coloso
La flor de Lis
That wraps up our article on Omar Ortiz’s marvelous hyper-realistic paintings. We hope you enjoyed seeing them, as much as we enjoyed collecting them. If you want to see more from Ortiz, go ahead and take a look at his website here. Also, don’t forget to tell us your thoughts on his paintings, and which ones are your favorites, in the comment section below.
Hi,
I am shafiq from Pakistan, I am an artist and graphic designer so i saw you work ,Wow what a realistic artist you are, your work is really wonderful and very close to my insight, So, i have no words to express my feeling
Many Thanks
Hyperrealism is beautiful way of art and sure is really hard to do it. Once in Prague I see one painting from young czech hyperrealistic painter names Michal Ozibko and I was so suprised. Each inch of canvas was absolutely amazing. I belive that realistic painters are great artists and they artworks will follow our lifes forever.