Doug Bloodworth’s first five fine-art oil paintings were shown (and sold out) at Art Basel in Miami in 2011.

Photorealist artist Doug Bloodworth enjoys overhearing visitors to his shows—in galleries from Zurich to Key West to South Beach to, yes, Disney World—say that they “love the photos.” When he tells them that they are actually looking at are oil paintings, “their look of incredulity is such a pleasure to watch. Many people stare at the paintings for a very long time.”

Viewers are enthralled with Bloodworth’s depiction of such beloved and familiar touchstones of Americana as Keebler fudge stripe cookies, M&Ms candies, Coke bottles, Monopoly games, Batman comics, and The New York Times crossword—in mid-attempt—all blown up to giant 4-foot-by-5-foot size.

These hyper-real depictions of pop culture items that touch all of our lives is the major appeal of this artist’s work, according to David Muller, president and curator of Photorealism, a Boca Raton–based dealer in solely photorealistic art.

“It’s a combination of, number one, the actual technical skill involved in the works,” says Muller. “I’ve been in his studio and sat there for three hours watching him complete three square inches of a candy wrapper. Watching it appear from a white canvas is totally amazing. Then you have the addition of nostalgia. When one sees the actual works, it takes you back to another time.”

Other galleries that feature the photo realism paintings of Doug Bloodworth include the Russeck Gallery on Palm Beach Florida’s Worth Avenue and in Soho, New York City. He shows at the Miami Beach, Effusion Gallery, next door to the Versace Mansion.

Bloodworth feels honored to have celebrity collectors such as the American rapper and song writer Lil Wayne.

Traditional photorealistic who’ve had an impacted on Doug Bloodworth include Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Tom Blackwell, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Don Eddy, Audrey Flack, Ron Kleeman, Richard McLean, John Salt and Ben Schonzeit. More recent photorealist influences include Pedro Campos, Roberto Bernardi, Simon Hennessey, Tom Martin, Steve Mills and Cynthia Poole.

Doug Bloodworth refers to his work as photorealism, as opposed to pop art or hyperrealism.

Galleries that deal in the photorealistic genre include Louis Meisel Gallery, Bernarducci Meisel Gallery and Jonathan Novak Gallery.

www.photorealism.com

Doug Bloodworth’s photorealistic oil paintings appear in a feature article in Xposy Multimedia Magazine–view the article here.