Art - Chuck Close

Self Portraits - or these days, Selfies, can be an art form. It may take hours to select the best profile picture to put on Facebook for other people to 'like' - but Chuck Close looked like he just rolled out of best in his 1967 image Big Self Portrait. 



I see this image as being extremely brave - allowing everyone to judge your appearance and calling it art. Even if you were to judge him, the camera angle is low so he appears to be looking down on the audience. You can't judge him, because he is already judging you. His lazy eyes make the audience feel that he may be looking down on you, but you haven't meant anything to him. There is no relationship between the audience and himself, but you feel that he has all the power. And as the artist he does, he controls what we see and how we are meant to react to his art. Although the message is unclear at first, because it just simply looking like Close has taken a tester image and hasn't quite been ready for it - I believe he is trying to get the message across that you can't judge without being judged yourself.