Although it might be said that Patrick Faulhaber is a “new realist” –- so precise and accomplished is his painting technically -– it is more accurate to assign to this virtuosity a broader and more complex ambition than the mere rendering of visual fact. In works that are both psychologically and emotionally arresting, Faulhaber devotes himself to the task of documenting the ordinary and often forgotten environs of Dallas; its drive-in movies, strip joints and taco stands, its beauty salons, its tattoo parlors. In his paintings, diminutive in scale and averaging 5 x 8 inches, Faulhaber continues to explore the expressive potential of light, both natural and artificial, within locales that recall Faulkner, the photographs of William Eggleston, the humble street scenes and storefronts of Eugène Atget. Faulhaber’s inspirations are drawn from varied and unexpected sources – the Northern Renaissance, particularly the work of van Eyck and the Master of Flémalle (Robert Campin), the paintings of Edward Hopper, and the early animated films of Walt Disney, e.g., "Snow White," "Bambi," "Fantasia." However rationally organized and mimetic they may be, for Patrick Faulhaber the paintings are the result of an intuitive process. “I am interested in things that have a certain amount of wear, more memories associated with them, more stories to tell.”
