aren't some of the truly great works of art by old masters exactly that though, there are any number of photorealistic depictions, the only difference being the fashion at the time and since) to compliment the model or patron and further the fact that the only comparison available was other art of a similar nature. Fashion changes and i dont neccessarily see realism a bad thing, without the attempt to capture real world likeness wouldnt the art world be stereotypically cubist or impressionist by that very thought process. I did indeed look at the work by the finger painting artist Chuck Close, i could think of many artists who use unorthodox methods to produce great work, but my point is this, if you browse the rendo forums a majority of posts are "how do i produce realistic" snow, grass, hair, skin, leather, glass, car paint, diamonds etc etc etc etc, the list is seemingly endless. Does that mean that the attempts to produce realism, especially photo realism, detract in someway from the finished product and make the end result boring?  . I find the whole process of trying to achieve realism far more interesting and intriguing than rendering an image in a toony style or pixelising it or splitting the channels. Thats just my opinion of course, I also am confused when you say "I think these techniques only become really interesting when used to depict imagery of a fantastic, Magic-realist, or surreal nature" The reason it confuses me is how you can compare realism in a surreal image, the skin may be great, the hair perfect, but what are you comparing it to, real life or another surreal image?.  I didnt just think the model was technical, i also thought it was extremely photo realistic btw

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