My friend Rob McCurdy makes these absolutely insane paintings, each takes about a year to complete and you have to see the real thing to believe them. They are part of an ongoing series of commisions from the National Gallery on people who have shaped the 20th century by famous artists (although Chuck Close is the only other painter I can think at the moment who is also working on this).
I included the color swatches in order to make it clear that you are looking at a photograph of the painting and not an original photograph.
The problem with the paintings is that the second they are completed they are usually shipped off to Washington, but for two weeks, April 16- May 3rd, his dealer in Chelsea is going to exhibit his painting of the Dalai Lama. The gallery is the Venetia Kapernekas Gallery 526 West 26th street on the 8th floor. They will only be exhibiting this one painting, nothing else
So far he's painted Nelson Mandela, Neil Armstrong, Gabriela Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison.
Here's his painting of Toni Morrison
The thing that's kind of interesting conceptually about these paintings is that they aren't really in the tradition of photo-realism. They're more about how time is transformed through the process. It's very hard to understand on the web because everything looks the same, but in the "flesh" it becomes a very interesting dynamic because you understand the difference between the way time is represented in the photograph and the way time is represented in the paintings.