Chuck CloseAn American Master Painter

Chuck Close, Then

• Born 1940• Most of his works are

large scale photo- realist portraits, done from photograph

• He uses a grid system and creates the image cell by cell

• His initial tools were an airbrush, rags, razor blade, and an eraser mounted on a drill

• First portrait was done in 1968 and took four months (Big Self Portrait)

• He often uses the same photographs over and over again

• The subject of his portraits are usually friends, which happen to be other famous and important artists

• He is an avid experimentalist, using varied materials like acrylic paint, watercolor, printmaking techniques, finger printing, and photographic techniques

• This is an example of one of his prints.

• The process is called relief printing using linoleum blocks.

• Each mark is made by carving away part of the block

• The image is of Alex Katz

Chuck Close, Now

• In 1988 he had a spinal artery collapse

• He felt ill before speaking at an art awards ceremony and went to the hospital after giving the speech

• 4 hours later he was a quadriplegic

• Close continued to paint mini portraits with the brush clenched between his teeth as part of his physical therapy

• He now states that’s all that kept him alive

• Close eventually regained some use of his arms and continues to paint

• His work still uses the grid format, but now he creates little shape and color paintings in each cell to create a large recognizable portrait

A close up view of his current work