Audrey Flack (1931-?) is widely thought of as a pioneer of photo-realism, a style of art that is so realistically done that it looks like a photograph. She was committed to the idea that the greatest art is that which can be understood by everyone, not just an elite, well educated populace. Her style revitalized still life painting in a time when abstract and non-representational styles were still at the forefront.
Audrey's paintings are huge--most of them measuring over 6 feet-- and they were done by projecting slides onto her canvas which she would then paint over. Her preferred medium was the airbrush which would give her the exact and minute details she wanted. Her most famous work during this time period was one she did entitled Marilyn (Vanitas). A few weeks ago I did a blog entitled ...All is Vanity in which I talked about Vanitas paintings and how the objects in them represented a caution about the fleeting pleasures of life. Audrey's Marilyn has some of those reminders as well. Audrey created her still lives very carefully--propping and gluing and wiring everything in place before taking the photograph. The first example is the photograph she took and it measures 20" by 20", the second is the painting measuring 80" by 80".
Did you compare the two and find some of the changes Audrey made in her version? It's interesting to see what she included, what she didn't, and what she added. Audrey used some of the same symbols used by the Vanitas painters. The rose and fruit are to remind us of life's brevity; the hourglass, candle, calendar and watch remind us of the passage of time. Marilyn herself represents not only deep pain, but deep beauty. Her face has a touch of softness and innocence and there is a trace of pain on her brow that is not found in the photo. The dripping paint brush next to Marilyn's face represents an unfinished work of art or possibly blood.
Here is another of Audrey's paintings in the Vanitas style called World War ll Vanitas:
Here we have her interpretation of pure evil as well as beautiful humanity. She wanted to contrast war and beauty without showing any blood or injury.The butterfly stands for the liberation of the soul, the pastries are next to a photograph of starving POWs and are meant to instill a sense of guilt that we are eating when they do not. The watch is set at a few minutes before 12-- the final hour but also the healing power of time, and the candle is 'bleeding' onto the photograph. The rose and spoiling pear are of course the standard reminders of the shortness of life.
These are just a small sampling of the many works this lady has produced and just a small part of the changing styles she has experimented with over her long career. Check out more of her work [here]. And here is a final example, just because!
Queen