GRE Reading Comprehension
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Source: Other
Though artist Chuck Close has devoted his life to portraiture, his paintings rarely comport with that genre's traditional purpose. His early photorealist images, which are created by overlaying a grid on a photograph and painstakingly copying the image cell by cell, are, to the naked eye. nearly undifferentiable from photographs. Furthermore. Close's emphasis is on the disembodied head itself, expressionless and devoid of any overt personality. He has never acceded to commissions, relying on both his own image and his friends as models. In 1988. a collapsed spinal artery caused almost total paralysis, but Close has continued to work. His freer paintings evince a natural extension of an augmented interest in the minute grid over the total work that predated his illness. This nonprivileging of any particular part of the canvas finds its inspiration, oddly enough, in abstract expressionism, despite the apparent inconso-nance of the two techniques.
Question List: 1 2
What is the author's intent when discussing Close's focus on the head of his subjects?
- A The author compares the artistic impact of photographs of heads to that of abstract photographs of the same head.
- B The author ruminates on wThat early experiences led to Close's focus on the head as a unifying theme in his work.
- C The author expounds upon how, by not accepting commissions. Close's wTork has remained free of commercial influences.
- D The author deconstructs the impact that Close's illness had on the content of his paintings.
- E The author believes that Close's approach of depicting the head but none of the personality of the subject is rare.