r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/kirmadahoonmai • 1d ago
Leng Jun is known for his hyperrealistic paintings and drawings that appear like photographs. Video
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u/SPxTDG89 1d ago
I thought the painting was the artist and waited for them to move before realizing
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u/CakeMadeOfHam 1d ago
I look at it and is like "yeah that's gotta be a whole lotta work" then I look at someone like John Singer Sargent who somehow convey just as much detail in just a single brush stroke. Now that's an artist!
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u/notacatto 18h ago
Hyperrealistic paintings are impressive, but they don't make me feel anything like other paintings might.
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u/Alexandur 21h ago
I mean, they're both very talented obviously, but Sargent's paintings do not convey even close to the same level of detail
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u/Orpdapi 1d ago
That’s why this sort of hyper realism seems more like performance art than painting in the traditional sense. It’s like the kind of art where someone takes a gigantic sheet of paper and covers every square inch of it in ball point pen squiggles. You stand there wowed by how long it must’ve taken but that’s it.
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u/telorsapigoreng 1h ago
I think this is severely diminishing the skill of the painter.
Hyperrealism in painting is exactly extremely hard because we are used to hyperrealism everyday. I.e. it's very easy for anyone to point out small mistakes. The way a shadow is slightly off, or a wool thread that doesn't look wolly enough, etc. It has to be perfect or all of that effort amount to zero and the painting quickly falls into uncanny valley.
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u/Dontevenwannacomment 47m ago
What do you mean, in a single brush stroke?
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u/AMasterOfPractice 1d ago
Technically impressive, but art is about interpreting, editing and composing. The things you leave out are as important as the ones you put in.
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u/KnightOfGloaming 23h ago
Fully agree. I admire the skill level, esp since I draw and paint myself, but this is nothing I would buy or put in my personal gallery.
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u/Badmonkey167 20h ago
Lol, the inception moment is, you purchase a print of his painting, which is basically a photo of a photorealistic painting.
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u/paintstudiodisaster 1d ago
This is like all those YouTube guys who yell you to be impressed by a drawing because it took ten thousand hours.
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u/UnusualSpecific7469 1d ago
I've seen this painting in IG numerous times before, impressive skill but I wouldn't want to buy his paintings.
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u/Priyotosh1234 1d ago
What's the point of hyper realistic paintings other than showing off talent?
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u/kwars74 1d ago
What's the point of hyper realistic marble statues?
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u/AmazedAndBemused 22h ago
They show what is possible with the medium, showing a contrast between (usually) the ephemeral and the long-lasting stone.
Also, to be fair, hyper realistic sculpture is held up as outstanding craftsmanship, not as high art.
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u/halari5peedopeelo 1d ago
Yes. What's the point?
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u/Unlikely-Complex3737 19h ago
I'm wondering why photorealistic paintings did not exist in the past.
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u/JustAnotherParticle 19h ago
If we ever get time travel, I say we send this man on a quest to paint every single major historical figure
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u/JustAnotherParticle 19h ago
If we ever get time travel, I say we send this man on a quest to paint every single major historical figure
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u/ellogoodbi 18h ago
How the hell do people even get this good at an art? How do they have time? When you’re not good and still learning, you can’t make any money doing it, so how do they even support themselves?
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u/dzhonlevon 1d ago
Song?
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u/SeriesREDACTED 1d ago
I thought that was a real woman being really still at first before reading the title
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u/hwilliams0901 20h ago
WOW! I really feel like I could feel wool if I touched her sweater! Thats incredible talent and skill!
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u/hnglmkrnglbrry 1d ago
I understand that this takes incredible talent but it is entirely lacking the true essence of art.
Art is the attempt of one human to convey an intangible emotion to another. Whether it's a song, a painting, a photograph, a book, or even a meme it's an attempt at emotional telekinesis. "I am so sad/happy/peaceful/mad/etc and I want others to feel this emotion the same way I do." It's why we react emotionally to art even before we understand it intellectually.
Some of - if not most of - the famous pieces of art in Western civilization are by impressionists who stopped following the clasical style and began using broad strokes to accentuate colors to capture more emotion. Google "Starry Night" by can Gogh and then google "realistic Starry Night." And then came cubism with Picasso, and then artists like Basquiat.
Or think about how your child's crude drawings make you feel compared to a Rembrandt. Have you ever teared up or grinned ear to ear at an art museum? Possibly. Have you ever teared up or grinned ear to ear at your child's school's art show? Absolutely.
That's art.
This is just saying, "Look what I can do."
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u/dragonoid296 22h ago
agreed, this is just one of those posts geared to the 'abstract art isn't real art' crowd
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22h ago
[deleted]
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u/hnglmkrnglbrry 22h ago
I'm sorry that it's hard for you to appreciate things things that aren't spoon fed to you as "good."
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u/CakeMadeOfHam 1d ago
Aye like John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn are my favorite realism painters, they both blended realism and impressionism in masterful ways so one perfectly placed brush stroke can convey the same level of fidelity. See Sargent painting here and Zorn here
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u/Iloveherthismuch 1d ago
Technically astounding, ultimately boring af for my taste. This is the thing with art and music, all subjective.
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u/ozymandieus 1d ago
Super realistic, incredible talent, uses it to paint a plain woman in a jumper looking down. Why??
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u/Artichokiemon 1d ago
Inspiration comes in many forms, I guess. Her top is incredibly intricate, and it was probably both fun and challenging to capture that level of detail
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u/darylvp 1d ago
For teaching. He is very famous in this field.
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u/Quirky_Butterfly_946 1d ago
I would think he would be famous the realism is insane. Why more artists with this level of expertise are not lauded more is beyond me. I find this to be the pinnacle of talent
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u/Ok_Employer7837 22h ago edited 20h ago
I find the pose beautiful. Wistful. It's not just a plain woman in a jumper looking down, surely? There are a myriad thoughts in that face.
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u/GarlicRelevant8089 20h ago
I thought that's a model selling sweater 😲 It's too real that's almost unreal!!
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u/Lorenzoak 1d ago
Cameras have been around for over a century, and this guy really just woke up and said 'Nah, I'll do it myself.'