With its roots in the 1960s and with the support of Euro-American visual traditions, hyperrealism is known as a revolutionary; upholding the bastions of perfectly mimetic, radically realistic painting. It is one of the few truly irritating elements in the current world of art. It is directly connected to the revolt against the progressive artistic tendencies of the period; on one side against the neo-avant-garde variants of minimalism, abstract expressionism, conceptualism and installation art, on the other side against more or less engaged realism. From the beginning, with its focus positively attuned to the image, unlike pop-art, hyperrealism was strategically connected to photography and technical vision, which is not only utilized, but also problematized by it. Hyperrealism, however, standing in opposition and well informed by avant-garde art, intentionally borders on realism, naturalism, illusionism and verism. It cannot be perceived as a visual play, a projection of an idealised world or the result of simple artistic endeavour - it embodies a completely elementary interest in that which exists in reality, a fascination with what one can see. Its focus is on the object, not the manner in which it is regarded; on the detail, not the context; on the appearance that support its own expression of the object, not the internal properties - and everything is subordinated to this purpose.

Museum of Art Olomouc