Photorealism was the vogue in American painting at the time. It didn't appeal to Hsia at first, but he knew he had to learn something in his new country of residence, and at the same time he needed to produce work that was commercially viable.
當時美國的照相寫實蔚為風潮，儘管夏陽一開始不太能接受，然而一方面想著「我既然都到了美國了，不學這個還學什麼？」一方面也因為拮据的經濟考量，夏陽的畫風，一下子由飄忽模糊的毛毛人，進入有市場性的照相寫實時期。