Date

DO NOW:Answer the questions on the slip of paper:

CHUCK CLOSE

Close’s Life.✤ At age 14, Chuck Close was inspired to

become a painter.

✤ He studied at the schools of art at the University of Washington and Yale University.

✤ His first solo exhibition included several larger-than-life portraits of his friends, painted in black and white.

✤ His style is called “Photorealism”

✤ Photorealism

✤ Photorealism is a style of painting that copies a photograph.

✤ Chuck Close was one of nine popular photorealist artists

✤ Quick write: why do you think photorealist painters would paint a photograph? 1. To impress people; 2. Because they really liked photos; 3. They had a complicated philosophy about life; 4. It just looks cool; 5. Something else?

✤ Write: “I think photorealist painters painted photos because…”

✤ Photorealism was popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s, right around the time that more people in America were owning a camera.

✤ Chuck Close’s photorealism did not always make people look good.

✤ His paintings magnified people’s flaws

Quick write: The following images are from a painting of his friend, Mark, painted from 1978-1979. Copy the following questions, then answer them while you look at the pictures of Mark:

1.How do you think he painted so realistically?

2.How would you feel if your friend painted you like this?

Process✤ In order to paint

such a large version of the photos he took, he put a grid on the photo, and then painted inside a similar grid on his giant painting.

✤ Fingerprinting

✤ Close created the “fingerprint series”, paintings created using only his thumb and forefinger, covered in ink to create different shades of gray.

✤ Up close, you can see the fingerprints. From far away, the fingerprints form an image.

✤ Quick write: why do you think Chuck Close paints so many faces?

Disabilities and a style change

✤ Close has a disability called Face Blindness. He has difficulty recognizing people, but is helped by photos and paintings of them.

✤ He paints faces to connect to people.

✤ In 1988, he suffered a spine injury which left him in a wheelchair.

✤ He uses a special device to help him hold the paintbrush.

✤ He gave up his photorealism and creates paintings using simple shapes like ovals, squares, and circles. Up close, each part of the grid looks like shapes and colors. From a distance, they form a picture.

Video Links

A Portrait in Progress (1:32)

Close Up on DVD (1:25)

Chuck Close Clip (1:33)