What's in a face?

A freewrite on what it means to portray the human face from when I saw a Chuck Close exhibit many years ago.

“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare had his Juliet ask this question to a dark Verona sky because she didn’t understand how her Capulet name could be more consequential than her actual self. In contrast, artists who paint human selves should expect a viewer that asks an entirely different question. If confronted with the portrait of a person, we, the aud…