This past Sunday I went to visit one of my favorite sections of the Met: The contemporary art galleries all the way in the back corner. This is the Gallery 915, which houses paintings and sculptures from the 1970s until the present. This is a gallery that unless you have been told about it, or stumbled upon it, is easy to miss. I advise you to make your way in front of “Mark,” a photorealist work done by Chuck Close. This image is so realistic that it appears as if it is merely a photograph. In reality, it is acrylic on canvas, done to appear as if it is a photograph. Mark’s glasses reflect the flash from the camera so as to enhance the photorealist effect. The painting is super-realistic, to the point of showing every flaw in Mark’s face.
The first time I visited the gallery I was annoyed because I had just made my way past a room filled with Mark Rothko’s work, and I was frustrated by the typical argument about what is art. Then, I came into the room and saw Mark, and became even more frustrated because it appears as if it is a picture. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a photorealist work and that the apparent photograph is indeed a painting. This painting should not be missed when going to the Contemporary Art galleries.
This reminded me about our class discussion on art, and what constitutes art these days. Chuck Close is a reminder that not all contemporary art is conceptual, and that artists have incredible talent, even in the modern world. 
I remember being put off the first time I visited this gallery. I went there myself after our visit to the Frans Hals exhibition. I find the holdings in this gallery more interesting and more satisfying each time. In some ways, they seem garish and bold and “trying too hard” in one way or another. But over time, they seem to speak more to me. I find it interesting to appreciate them differently on each visit. somehow the artist knew something that is only gradually revealed to me.
I posted this comment a few weeks ago, long before we mentioned Chuck Close in class. This painting, that is displayed opposite to the self portrait painting that we discussed in class is a great example of seeing the artist’s work progress. As is mentioned in the article, Close is famous for his photorealism, and this painting appears as if it is a painting is a photograph. The image that was displayed in class, is a painting that was produced almost ten years after this one. It is always interesting to see an artist’s progresion throughout time, like we saw with DeKooning. As we walked through the DeKooning galleries we were able do discern the various styles he went through before coming to his famous work of Woman 1. In terms of Chuck Close, we saw that he was much more realistic before he decided to go the pointillism route like Seurat. These two paintings are exciting to see juxtaposed together because of the similarities, but more importantly, for the transformation.