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My work examines the “Post Truth” phenomena where facts and truth are distorted or dismissed in order to push an agenda. This damaging political culture has intensified in recent years with the election of Donald Trump in the United States and was named word of the year by Oxford dictionary in 2016 for its prevalence in the Brexit debate. The Post Truth problem is also rampant on the internet and social media where lies and conspiracy theories are spread virtually unchecked.
My style of painting, which I call Post Truth Realism, combines hyperrealism with aspects of surrealism. My paintings blur the lines between what is real and what is not by presenting a false reality as realistically as possible. Unlike with Surrealism, which is an examination of the subconscious, my paintings contain a deliberate deception that is meant to deceive the viewer in order to draw attention to the Post Truth problem. All of my paintings are done with oil on linen.
Alternative Artifacts is my first series of Post Truth Realism paintings which feature strange antiques that never existed. The name is derived from a White House official who described falsehoods told by the Trump administration as “alternative facts”. The series stretches and bends the truth about our past in order to bring attention to deceptions going on in our world today. The old and worn out objects have a surreal quality that are meticulously painted which causes the viewer to question the authenticity of what they are seeing. The artifacts appear to be absurd but they are presented with such precise detail that their stories can almost be believed. Each antique is surrounded by a deep black background, removing any point of reference for the viewer to hold on to. This singular focus on the object and nothing else mirrors the practice of cherry picking facts in order to push a falsehood. The meaning behind the series is purposefully opaque when initially viewing the paintings. The viewer isn’t aware that the whole point of the collection is to mislead them.
More info: jeffbartels.com
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