Photograph or painting? Eloy Morales’ work certainly encourages this question amongst audiences who can only marvel at his hyper-realistic creations. Hailing from Madrid, Spain, Morales has been refining his special craft since 1995- rather than building up his portraits in a series of layers, Morales instead meticulously works on tiny segments at a time, carefully adding pigment and blending exactly as required. As a result his pieces appear to spread and grow across the canvas until their completion, which can take around a month. Surprisingly, Morales claims that his style of painting does not solely rely on paying attention to physical facial details, but focusing on the nuances in tonal transitions and avoiding abrupt cuts between different shades. Often showing his subjects smeared with paint, Morales work not only triumphs in achieving likeness but also complete accuracy of texture and depth.
