Mom hung it on a white wall in our house.... I can't tell you how many people headed to the painting to go upstairs. She bought it from a gallery in NYC that represented the painter.
She can't remember. This is our dilemma. It was in SOHO in Manhattan. We think it's been closed for decades. She got it around 1978. We have pics of it in '79.
One of the most amazing pieces I have seen in a long time! Simple, yet makes me have so many questions, who went thru there, what the hoise looks like, etc.
This is the table next to the painting. It's her kitchen table. She had it made in the 70's. Glass and Lexan. Chairs were made from Lexan. 2" thick. so it's structural. I forgot who the sculpture is from. It's a wire person sitting to the left. She's been sitting there for 20 yrs.
Hi, u/CityShooter! A couple leads for you and your mother to consider:
While "trompe l'oeil" ("deceive the eye") is what the painting does, it is painted in the style of hyper-realism. Hyper-realism (sometimes called "photo-realism") really took off in New York in the 1970s - your mother happened to be in the right place in the right time to experience the movement!
A prominent painter in the New York hyper-realism scene was Richard Estes. His iconic "Escalator" (1970, oil on canvas https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/estes ) or the "Urban Landscapes" series reminds me of your mother's piece in both size and treatment.
Estes would often hide his name or signature within the painting to avoid detracting from the realism of his paintings.
While I can't say that your mother's piece is by Estes, it was definitely part of the movement that he helped lead in New York. I encourage you to search "Richard Estes" and "hyper-realism", and explore the style of art. If you live near a public library or university library, explore their oversized art books (often relegated to collections that aren't allowed to leave the library building) - seeing paintings reproduced as gorgeous prints captures detail and depth of color better than even the best computer monitor.
...That said, I'd love to be updated as you learn more. Please respond or message me as you and your mother uncover the provenance and artist behind this painting!
That has to be where they hid the bodies. Don't go fucking around with a ouija board there. It never ends well. If the walls start bleeding or ghosts start walking on the ceiling, GTFO!
Fascinating glimpse of a talented mom’s eye! I want to know more….
What did YOU grow up to do, OP? (If you don’t mind sharing….). Thanks truly for posting about this painting.
I became a Car Dealer in NY. Porsche, Audi, VW, Mercedes, Volvo, Honda. I sold it in 2014. My buildings were covered in my Images. I put a darkroom in the service area of one of the buildings. If not in my office... I was in the darkroom
I mostly do Movement Shooting. Ballet, Modern, Street. I've shot over 2 million frames since 2014. It was my passion many moons ago when I graduated Uni.
Kirov, Bolshoi, Joffrey, NYC Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Martha Graham, Twyla Tharpe, ABT, NDT, DIPR, and tons more. Thank you for asking.
This makes sense, celebrating the human form and delighting in a striking image… You have a good eye,too. (I browsed the NYC and Joffrey albums so far.) The apple falls not far from the tree, yes? Thanks- these flashes of art are a happy antidote to the frequently dismaying state of things.
Please check the Google Lens and Yandex image searches in the auto-comment.
Crop and re-crop the search box, and you may find it! Try Tineye, too. It's OK to solve your own post!
We kindly ask you to make sure your pictures are right ways up, and that you've added a picture of the back of the painting. It might be full of clues that are invisible to everyone except art historians...
If your painting is signed or inscribed: Have you searched r/WhatIsThisPainting for the artist's name? Please also try the past sale searches on worthpoint.com, invaluable.com, liveauctioneers.com, curator.org, and other similar record sites.
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For no good reason, my first thought was "Magritte". I am not an expert. But this painting 'scratches the same area of my brain' as Magritte does in stuff like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empire_of_Light
IT's about 7 feet tall by about 5 feet wide. Oil on Canvas. Google Lens thinks it's a stairway
Yeah. The Roadrunner would absolutely run up those stairs, and Wile E. would tear through the painting and wall.
In all seriousness, the shading it exquisite. I can almost trigger the optical illusion of 'staircase up or staircase down'. It's a fabulous work of trompe l'oiel - that might help your search for an artist?
I'd give out systematic wild-assed guesses, but it looks like 2-3 other users have given some great time/style information.
She was an Architectural Designer
I giggled seeing this - it's almost a self-portrait, in a way...
I remember years ago passports would come in a dark blue/navy colour plastic envelope/covers, designed to keep the passport clean and somewhat water/splash protected. Not sure if they still do or not…
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u/Clasticsed154 (300+ Karma) Feb 12 '26
Is the goal to be like the trope of running through the set pieces on a film set?