Jim Nutt

Jim Nutt

Coursing, 1966, acrylic and collage on plexiglas

Trim, 2010, acrylic on linen

Jim Nutt is a founding member of the Chicago surrealist art movement known as Chicago Imagists, or Hairy Who. His pop culture influence is evident in his work. He often paints fantasy, characters, and political commentary.

In his portraits, he paints expectations of faces instead of actual faces.  His faces could be compared to that which a child would draw. He uses mixed media and collage. They could be classified as cartoon versions of people, kind of remind me of Ren and Stimpy. His flat areas of color bring to mind digital versions of paintings.

The shapes of his figures could be compared to John Currin.

These two paintings have over a 40 year span but elements of distortion and strange shapes remain constant.

Richard Estes

Richard Estes

Richard Estes can be classified as a photorealist painter. He paints a lot of New York City scenes and reflections of city life, although he avoids famous landmarks.

Extremely meticulous depiction of detail, high finish, and sharp focus. He paints intricate reflections of glass and mirror surfaces that look like high-definition photographs.  He doesn't include certain details like snow or dirt because he feels they will detract from the scene.

compared to Chuck Close and Dwayne Hanson.

Lorraine Shemesh

Lorraine Shemesh

Bubbles, 1990, oil on canvas

Spots, 2012, oil on canvas

Lorraine Shemesh is a hyper-realist painter. She lists Edward Hopper, athletic figures, dancers, Abstract Expressionism, and Neo-Impressionism as her influences.

Themes include unconventional cityscapes, figures, interiors, repetition, and water.

Her underwater scenes are super good - highly saturated colors with water distortion. Her earlier works are humorous and contemplative.

Inka Essenhigh

Inka Essenhigh

Subway, 2005, oil on canvas

Shopping, 2005, oil on linen

Inka Essenhigh's paintings can be described as Pop Surrealism. She paints cartoonish, highly abstracted human forms, turning everyday banality into a surrealist case study on modern, urban life.

Formally, she paints strangely attenuated forms in flat, simple colors. Her use of seamless paint appears digital and animated, kind of like Fantasia. Her figures appear distorted in their faces and bodies.

John Currin

John Currin

The Bra Shop, 1997, oil on canvas

Kiev, 2008, oil on canvas

John Currin is a figurative painter influenced by Renaissance oil paintings, contemporary culture, politics, and women's magazines.

He creates parodies of our sex-obsessed culture through distortion of the human figure. Main themes include pornographic eroticism and manipulation. Often his portraits appear satirical, kitschy, and humorous. Over time his works have gotten much more explicitly erotic.