Andres (Serrano)

This is a portrait of artist Andres Serrano. Similar to Close's other production, it focuses on the face of one of his acquaintances. The intimate photograph, however, differs greatly from the large-scale, hyper-realistic close-ups painted on canvas for which Close is best known. For this work, the artist chose the anachronistic medium of the daguerreotype, the first form of photography invented in 1839. In contrast to film-based photography-which is endlessly reproducible-the daguerreotype image is unique, and is directly transferred onto a metal plate. The shiny surface acts like a mirror, and the image appears to shift according to the viewing angle.