Paul Cadden - hyper-realistic artist

Lies!

Lies and trickery I tell you!
They're just photos.... shirley?

This is an odd business really. The pictures are a great demonstration of skill, but they don't provoke much emotion. If you are interested in the subject matter then they make great decoration; but if not then it's too easy to be left feeling ambivalent. It's the same as any kind of piece of engineering or whatever. For instance a tremendous amount of work went into designing my washing machine. Does it provoke any emotions? Not really.

At risk of sounding pretentious, experience of great art is akin to a symbiotic relationship. You have to put something into viewing it - thoughts, feelings or emotions. In turn you will discover new things about it. The composition of the piece can be simple, as long as it accomplishes that. For example one of Dan Flavin's pieces, in essence an arrangement of neon tubes bought in a shop, can completely transform how you see light in a particular space. Or leave you guessing as to what he was trying to represent: war, bloodshed, weaponry etc (using the red Vietnam memorial installation as a case in point). I like both modern and traditional art, but for the reasons outlined.

The great drawings in this topic are just that, great drawings. You look at them and think 'that's a really great drawing'.