Do photographs represent a slice of reality? An objective version of reality, one that is faithful to the exact time and place the camera’s shutter opened? Can a painter achieve the same rendering of reality?

In the mind of the Halsey Institute’s exhibiting artist, painter Marc Trujillo, the term “photorealism” is oxymoronic. While Trujillo uses many different photographs as studies, he uses painting as a strategy to more closely represent reality.

Let’s discuss the concept of photorealism, or that is, the ability of any artist to visually represent that which they see before them. Along with Trujillo’s work, we will look at the work of other “photorealist” painters like Rackstraw Downes and Richard Estes and other relevant artists and writers. The talk is free and open to the public, and students, teachers, artists, philosophers, art-enthusiasts, and art-unenthusiasts are invited to participate.