Ashton Gallagher

Image: Ashton GallagherIn the world of pop culture art, few artists are as precise and detailed as Ashton Gallagher. His works are so gorgeous, so evocative, so effortlessly excellent, his paintings are regularly mistaken for photos. But they’re certainly not photos. Gallagher puts painstaking time into creating his paintings, and not only is he bringing a new group of them to Los Angeles this week, he’s let io9 in on the process behind one of the pieces.“Mini Portraits V” opens May 12 at the Gallery 1988's Pop-Up…

Image: Ashton Gallagher“Wait, those are paintings?” It’s a phrase I hear often when discussing the work of painter Ashton Gallagher. The Illinois-based artist can take any subject and make a painting so lifelike, so dynamic, that you’d swear it was a photo. And, at times, people do think they’re photos. But, we assure you they’re not.On June 11, Gallagher returns to Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, CA with “Mini-Portraits IV,” his fourth (obviously) exhibit of pop culture portraits in his beautifully detailed style. It’s a…