The Haunting Realism of John Register May 5, 2016 One of the most distinctive American realist painters of the late twentieth century, John Register (1939–1996) created a stark and haunting body of work that depicts places without people—waiting rooms, hotel lobbies, office spaces empty save for a chair or two, deserted bus stations, diners, sidewalks, and streetscapes. His scenes—in their tension between light and shadow and their embrace of vivid color—evoke an existential bleakness which has prompted comparisons to the work of Edward Hopper. To this Register responded: “With Hopper you witness someone else’s isolation; in my pictures, I think you, the viewer, become the isolated one.” Register’s artistic career began in remarkable style. One day in 1972, not long after his 33rd birthday, Register, miserable in his New York advertising job, stood up at a meeting, announced he had a dentist’s appointment, and left for good. As he later recalled: “I saw that this was the way my whole life would be in advertising. I realized that I just couldn’t do it.” Register would eventually settle in Malibu. In Southern California he found the scenery and atmosphere that imbues his art. Light is the chief element in Register’s paintings, most often in the form of pristine sunlight. Artificial illumination is relatively rare in his paintings, but can be found in such night scenes as Motel: Route 66. Whether austerely sun-drenched or starkly fluorescent, Register’s evocative depictions of the lonely and remote run the spectrum. “I look for an offbeat beauty,” said Register, who died of cancer at age 57. “I like the patina of things that have been battered by life.” (https://lamodern.com/2016/05/the-haunting-realism-of-john-register/)