Photorealism Forever

Calida Rawles, North and Penn (For Freddie Gray), 2018. Collection of Janine Sherman Barrois and Lyndon Barrois Sr.

MOCA built a reputation for long-form reexaminations of late 20th-century art movements. Its latest offering, "Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968" is not quite that sort of show, though it's sizable (nearly a hundred works) and every bit as provocative. It rethinks photorealism as an ongoing strategy rather than a time-bound movement. Thus artists you might not think of as photorealists—say, Calida Rawles, Ben Sakoguchi, or Sayre Gomez—are recast as such.

Vija Celmins, Zeppelin, 1968. Graphite on acrylic ground on paper. Private collection

The show spans 9 rooms, each uniting older and newer art under conceptual umbrellas such as "The Family Album," "Bad Girls," or "History Painting." Drawing (Vija Celmins) and sculpture (Duane Hanson, John Ahearn, Marilyn Levine) are given equal weight with painting. The gallery texts are plain-spoken without being dumbed-down. A panel at the show's entrance is disarmingly frank: 

"While photorealism is usually regarded as a short-lived and insignificant movement… it has been and remains a vital impulse in contemporary art.… 'Ordinary People' contends that the popular appeal of photorealism is not based in its dazzling, virtuosic technique but rather in its work ethic. The exhibition reframes photorealism as a teachable, learnable skill, akin to sign painting, commercial illustration, billboard painting, tattoo artistry… Photorealism honors what people know from their everyday lives: their work."

"Ordinary People" is at MOCA Grand Avenue through May 4, 2025. Anna Katz organized, with Paula Kroll.

Robert Bechtle, '61 Pontiac, 1968-69. Whitney Museum

Robert Bechtle's '61 Pontiac is one of the earliest paintings in the show. "This is a no-style painting," Bechtle said, an attempt to "paint things as they really looked" without the overhead of style, taste, or art history.

Richard Estes, The Candy Store, 1969. Whitney Museum

Chuck Close, Robert/104,072, 1973-74. Museum of Modern Art

Audrey Flack, Leonardo's Lady, 1974. Museum of Modern Art

Photorealism was a coded vehicle for early feminism. The show includes a triptych of lipstick by Turkish artist Nur Koçak, rarely exhibited on the West Coast.

Nur Koçak, Natural Wonders, 1979; Chanel Lipsticks, 1988; Fruitables, 1979. Nesrin Esirtgen Collection

Duane Hanson, Drug Addict, 1974. Yale University Art Gallery

Duane Hanson has become associated with funny sculptures of Florida tourists and retirees. The two examples here, Drug Addict and Chinese Student, show his political bite. As Dan Piepenbring wrote, "Duane Hanson lived deep in Uncanny Valley. He bought a lot of property there."

Idelle Weber, Quilt, 1974. Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The unclassifiable Idelle Weber, usually connected to Pop, is here just as convincingly presented as a photorealist. 

Joan Semmel, Touch, 1975. Whitney Museum, promised gift of Jeff and Leslie Fischer

John Baeder, Stardust Motel, 1977. Yale University Art Gallery

Barkley L. Hendricks, Sir Charles, Alias Willie Harris, 1972. National Gallery of Art

Barkley Hendricks' full-length paintings of African Americans were inspired by a desire to create Black portraits for future museums. Sir Charles, Alias Willie Harris riffs on van Dyck's three-fold portrait of Britain's Charles I.

Kehinde Wiley, Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans, 2006. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Unlike van Dyck, Hendricks used photographic studies, and this was influential for later generations. On view for the first time(?) is a large Kehinde Wiley donated by the Taschens in 2012. 

Ralph Goings, Walt's Restaurant, 1978-79. Yale University Art Gallery

Ben Sakoguchi, Bombs, 1983. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Another debut is Ben Sakoguchi's Bombs, a Dr. Strangelove-absurd treatment of its subject. Each of 24 panels is based on a vintage news photo. MOCA's Acquisition and Collection Committee bought it in 2022. 

Small detail of Bombs

Takako Yamaguchi, Untitled (Crochet Top), 2012-17. Collection of Brad and Cynthia Thiel

Alfonso Gonzalez Jr, American Pawn Shop, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Jeffrey Deitch

Sayre Gomez, 2 Spirits, 2024. Courtesy of the artist, François Ghebaly Gallery, Xavier Hufkens, and Galerie Nagel Draxler

Photorealism is merging with digital deepfakes. In 2 Spirits Sayre Gomez painted a digital composite of a Boyle Heights mural, an Echo Park mini-mall, and a sunset sky.