More About "Realism"

I have posted about the exhibit of paintings and some other works about "Realism" in art.  Walking into the gallery and seeing this painting stopped me in my tracks.  What an astounding idea, the artist's face within the branches of the tree.  And I love the background with the river and mountains to add to the realistic effect.  The artist, who's face in pictured in the branches is Hadi Falapishi who is Iranian-born.  The title of this painting is "Professional Painter in a Dream."  This is from the curator: "Evoking Surrealist psychology, Falapishi portrays ambiguous scenarios that prompt us to contemplate our own sense of meaning and morality.  He frequently uses self-portraiture in such artworks as this painting to question the cultural status of the artist."  I hope those words are useful to us all to help understand what the artist is up to.  But to first see this painting on the wall, I was stopped in my tracks to see it across the gallery, and then to immediately view it up closed to see it in more detail.  It was one of my favorites in this large exhibition.