Rob Pointon Artist

If you're painting from photos, why not take photos with a fisheye filter or wide-angle filter? Or imagine your subject in a swirled state rather than predicably static, and paint directly from your imagination.

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I enjoy Rob Pointon's paintings above, and it made me think of how artists throughout history have distorted images to create new and exciting effects.  Movements like Cubism, led by Picasso and Braque, fractured perspective to reveal multiple viewpoints at once, while Expressionists, such as Edvard Munch, exaggerated form and color to convey psychological intensity. Surrealists like Salvador Dalí twisted reality to explore the subconscious, merging dream logic with the real world. Abstract artists, including Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, abandoned literal representation entirely, using shape, color, and gesture to evoke mood and meaning. These distortions often reflected broader societal shifts—industrialization, war, existential uncertainty—offering new ways to see and feel the world. Rather than mere imitation, modern art became a language of transformation, allowing artists to reinterpret reality, confront truth, and provoke thought. In distorting the familiar, they opened doors to deeper understanding and imaginative freedom.