Robert Cottingham (Born 1935 in Brooklyn, New York) is considered to be one of most important original Photorealist painters.[1] Cottingham's work focuses on items associated as Americana. He studied art at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute. His first solo show was in 1971 at the O.K. Harris Gallery in New York.[2] A retrospective of Cottingham's work took place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1998.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cottingham
“Robert Cottingham's representations of urban signage celebrate the iconography of American cities. His closely-cropped, super realistic images of movie marquees and neon signs leave us enthralled with the formal qualities embedded in everyday landscapes.” From: (Landfall Press) http://www.landfallpress.com/cottingham.htm
I’ve always loved the work of Robert Cottingham. He was known as a “Photo Realist.” His paintings of neon and three-dimensional signage cropped close made an immediate impact on me way back as an art student. I marveled at his technical precision and bold use of flat colorful paint. His work was magic. I thought “how could anyone paint so realistically? Even on close inspection the work holds up to scrutiny. Magic? My image of an old set of three dimensional letters spelling out “SIN” was taken at an antique fair in Massachusetts a few years ago and I think reflects the aesthetic and imagery of Cottingham.
Selected works by Cottingham:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_w4st7TH384M/TScPPPOtCEI/AAAAAAAAOX8/0td9HPDvKUA/s800/Robert%2BCottingham%2B%25281%2529.bmp

http://blipoint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cottingham_southernstar.jpg

http://file-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/rc1h_d.jpg

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kqlh5fKwVg1qzn0deo1_500.jpg

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images/737/366855.jpg

http://www.vcu.edu/arts/communicationarts/dept/images/visiting/cottingham.jpg