Week 5: Feb. 4, 2024

Bus Window, Richard Estes, American, 1968-1973, Oil on masonite,

Out the window…

I discovered photorealism in grade school in the seventies looking through my father’s book of Richard Estes paintings. I thought it was incredible that paint could replicate a photograph so realistically. It had a ‘super-realism’ quality to it that compelled you to keep looking because it seemed almost too real.

When I first walked through the Nelson in 2015 I got to see an Estes painting in person. I noticed that I couldn’t stand still to take it in. I kept moving about, looking at it from different angles, up close, then further back, side to side. I realized I was trying to look around the corner of the bus, trying to shift to another angle so the sun wouldn’t reflect in my eyes and block the face of the driver. It drew me in to a reality that wasn’t real.

I chose to photograph Bus Window from the far right because it appears as a window in the wall of the gallery. A bus is passing by the window as you look down the gallery wall to the paintings hanging inside.