Born in Montreal in 1971, artist Jason de Graaf has become a master of painting hyper realistic drawings of still life using acrylic paint. de Graaf studied illustration and design and college but quickly fell in love with painting after another illustrator at the time, Sharif Taraby gave a class demonstration on painting.
As the artist explains in his statement, a lot of his work is influenced by light and even though these paintings are incredibly realistic it’s not the most important thing that de Graaf strives to achieve in his paintings:
My paintings are about staging an alternate reality, the illusion of verisimilitude on the painted surface, filtered so that it expresses my unique vision. Though my paintings may appear photoreal my goal is not to reproduce or document faithfully what I see one hundred percent, but also to create the illusion of depth and sense of presence not found in photographs.
Many of my paintings are about the relationship of light with reflective and transparent surfaces and my journey to understand those qualities and convey my sense of wonder and intrigue over them. In all of my paintings the subject matter is a springboard and a means to explore my ability to communicate something unique to the viewer.
Make sure you check out more of the artists work via his website.
All images via jasondegraaf.blogspot.co.uk
h/t Imgur / twistedsifter
