INCREDIBLE ART!
This Joburg artist’s paintings are so realistic they look like high-resolution photographs
THE lush foliage swathed in glossy bin bags held together by milky masking tape looks like it’s been shot by an expert photographer. But no lens other than a human eye was involved in creating this image – it’s in fact a hyperrealistic drawing created with multiple layers of acrylic paint.
The unique artwork recently won Matthew Blackburn a merit award at the 2023 Sasol New Signatures art competition. Matthew (29) created the piece, titled Suffocation, to bring awareness to the evergrowing problem of pollution and its effects on the planet.
“I wanted this artwork to touch on nature and how inefficient humans are,” he tells YOU. “Nature can break down matter and create new life whereas humans are constantly consuming and at the end of the day our waste is just piling up.”
The selftaught artist from Linksfield, Johannesburg, has entered the competition every year since 2021 and made only the top 100 in previous years. But this year his persistence and dedication paid off.
“You always hold that hope of winning. When I eventually got the phone call this year saying I’d made the top seven, I was like, ‘Whew!’ I was so happy.
“To be part of that top seven just gives you so much exposure and confidence.”
HIS love for art started at nursery school and at primary school he often found himself doodling in his textbooks.
In high school he studied art, where he learnt about charcoal, pencil and chalk but he took a liking to photorealism and acrylic paint.
“I love creating works where people ask, ‘Is this a painting or a photo?’”
He started painting 3D Coke bottles but these days he can paint anything from plants to portraits and animals.
“A lot of photorealistic artists are all about what the painting looks like. I’m trying to branch out – it’s not just about what it looks like, but the message behind it,” he explains.
It takes two weeks to a month to conceptualise and complete one piece of photorealistic art. He starts by sketching ideas of what he wants to produce and collects props or if it involves a person, finds a model.
Then he looks for locations to photograph his subjects using different lighting and angles and edits the pictures in Photoshop. The last step sees him getting to work on his canvas, outlining the drawing before painting it layer by painstaking layer.
“It’s a very slow process,” says Matthew, who takes commissions and earns between R2 500 and R10 000 per painting.
One spot can take about seven layers but the selfconfessed perfectionist says he doesn’t mind spending that much time polishing his work. “Once I’ve blended the colours, I use lighter tones to create the highlights. The highlights are what elevate it and make it realistic.”
After years of thinking he wasn’t good enough, Matthew has taken to sharing his artwork on social media, where he hopes to inspire others.
“Consistency is key in the art world,” he says. “Don’t feel discouraged.”