Both Close and Gertsch have passionately engaged the indirect, implied reality of the photo, and have committed their careers to systematically deconstructing this reality into the abstract forms that comprise it. Close, a Yale University graduate, first gained prominence in the late 1960s working from Polaroids to paint epic-size portraits of friends and fellow artists, among them Lucas Samaras and Philip Glass, as well as self-portraits. Privileging skin tones and textures, hair, and the varying reflective properties of faces, Close’s mammoth, early works interrogate the process of seeing and painting as much as they depict well-known figures. Later works “dematerialize” the image into grids and units that, when viewed at a distance, resolve into an astonishing clarity approximating photo-reality. Such works have brought Close international acclaim and have been the subject of countless exhibitions worldwide, including traveling retrospectives organized by the Walker Art Center,Minneapolis (1980); the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden (1994); and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1998).  Franz Gertsch is regarded as one of the most important Swiss artists working today and is best known for his hyper-realistic paintings and monumentally scaled woodcut prints. Over the course of his career, Gertsch has revolutionized both painting and printing mediums with his unique use of mineral-based colors and woodcut printing techniques. This combined investigation of image, material, and process is a central issue and intrinsic aspect of his work. Gertsch gained international recognition with his inclusion in documenta 5 (1972) and the 1978 Venice Biennale; he contributed an individual presentation to the 1999 Venice Biennale and was a participant in the 2002 Biennale.

In this gallery exhibition, the highly pixilated, photographic images of Close will be shown alongside the pointilist more painterly woodcuts of Gertsch. Whereas Close's finished works leave no clues indicating the act of painting, Gertsch's works retain the character of the artist's hand. Moreover, Gertsch's rediscovery of the old master's technique of wood engraving produces a supra-naturalist effect, also achieved by Close who employs, in his process, the use of a new focal point in each segment of a picture. Thirty works will be on view, several never before exhibited, including prints, unique photographs and a tapestry by Close, and unique woodcuts by Gertsch.

The size of the works demands that they be viewed from a distance, where their similarity to photographs is suggested. But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that these visual worlds were, in fact, created from abstract forms. The diverging appearances of closeness and distance will be the focal point of this exhibit, as will the working processes of these two consummate artists who have challenged the definition of photorealism throughout their admired careers.