Patrick Kramer
Patrick Kramer was born in Kaysville, Utah, the youngest child of German immigrants. A perfectionist by nature, art was an outlet for his obsessive personality, allowing him to focus on getting things “just right”. Taking art classes throughout high school, he was encouraged by his teachers, and eventually decided to study art at Brigham Young University.
There he continued to focus on realism, improving his technical skills and craftsmanship. Becoming more and more detailed, his work began to rival that of the photograph. This led to questions that continue to bother him: What is the purpose of representational painting in the age of photography? Why paint what the camera can so easily capture?
“I came to realize that the appeal of representational painting since the advent of photography is due in a large part to the painting process. Although the image itself may come to resemble an ordinary photograph, a psychological intensity can be felt in the handmade work, as the artist’s laboriously slow method, intense concentration, and myriad of artistic decisions lie behind the creation of the image. In my work, I hope the viewer senses this tension between photography and the handmade — the instantaneous and the prolonged, the ubiquitous and the unique, the impartial and the personal.”
Painting whatever captures his interest, Patrick paints a variety of subjects, from still lifes to landscapes to city scenes. He was featured as one of Southwest Art Magazine’s “Artists to Watch” in May 2012.
