That whole package of mechanical art is a concern and part of my interest. It occurred to me that I should go as far to the opposite as I could. Finally, in 2006 they decided to sell the New York farm and Goings currently resides in California.In interviews in the early 2000s, Goings spoke about how his works have evolved over the decades of his painting career and the aesthetic refinement that took place as his personal interest and style evolved.Goings was one of a handful of Photorealists who lent the banal, consumer object and the everyday experience a sense of importance that the unbelievable (and deceptive) realism of his paintings seems to demand. "Ralph Goings Artist Overview and Analysis". For the working-class at that time, it was extremely difficult to find work; often, temporary or "odd" jobs comprised the only available opportunities for earning even scant wages at the time.As a favorite pastime, the Goings family - mother, father, Ralph, and his younger brother, would pile into their car and take long drives. Also, the objects themselves, and how their form is defined by their surface and the light...and that ultimately creates the illusion of the three-dimensional object even though it is on a flat surface. I was having a hell of a lot of fun...I am interested in the light and the effect it has on surfaces, and the spaces where these objects exist. All rights reserved. Documentation of forty years of work by this American photorealist painter. From an early age, Goings has memories of his father being "a classic victim of the Great Depression." On one unfortunate ride, Goings' younger brother, James - just six years old at the time - was thrown from the vehicle and suffered a severe head injury that he later died from. It went against all of my art school training... some people were upset by what I was doing and said 'it's not art, it can't possibly be art'. • 2003 Ralph Goings: Paintings & Watercolors, Vintage & Current Works, Bernarducci Meisel Gallery, New York, NY • 1997 Ralph Goings: Photorealism, Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, CA • 1996 O.K. Ralph Goings (born 1928) is an American Photorealist painter whose pioneering work helped to establish the movement on the West Coast. He was best known for his highly detailed paintings of hamburger stands, pick-up trucks, and California banks, portrayed in … That could lead to some change. "By the time he graduated from high school, World War II had just ended and, finally old enough to enlist, Goings joined the army. It was almost a mechanical process, just like the manual technique that he developed in which his brushwork was smoothed over. Ralph Goings, born in California in 1928, is an American painter closely associated with the Photorealism movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The move was the first of many that were prompted by pragmatism - finding decent-paying teaching jobs - but it opened up new artistic opportunities, as he was able to join the Artist Collaborative Gallery, which provided him with an opportunity to show his work and engage with other experimental artists.The move inspired a period of extensive experimentation; his work from that period ranged from thickly coated canvases to In 1963, Goings had a personal breakthrough in his studio: he was fond of a particular magazine cover and decided to paint it to look as "real" as possible. All Rights Reserved | [Internet]. While his intentions were to pursue a career as a full-time artist, by that time he had a wife and four children to support, so he chose pragmatism over artistic ambition.Around the same time that he moved on from abstract painting, Goings relocated to Sacramento, CA in order to connect with the thriving art scene there, transferring to a new high school to continue teaching while engaging more directly with other artists and an overall environment more conducive to his artistic growth. Ralph Goings (250 results) Diners, pickup trucks and still lifes of restaurant condiments are the themes. "As Goings began narrowing the focus of his work in the early 1970s, paintings that most often featured diner culture, (including genre images and still lifes) he found that the guiding force in his work was light and the subtle changes that could affect an entire composition.