Chuck Close Photo-Realism Chuck Close was influence by the images of the Pop Artists. He felt the...

Chuck ClosePhoto-Realism

Chuck Close was influence by the images of the Pop Artists. He felt the same way about America’s dependence on the second hand visual experience.

None of his “portraits” are traditional. They tell us nothing about the subject’s lives, feelings, character, profession, or social status.

His works are merely paintings of photos of faces.

The overwhelming detail forces us to think not about the subject, but about the image itself- how and why it was made.

Chuck ClosePhoto-Realism

Leslie. 1973

He magnified every blemish and imperfection.

His early work was created using an airbrush, as to mimic the mechanical quality of a photograph.

The process of creating the painting was equally important to Chuck Close as the finished image.

C H U C K C L O S E

Leslie 1973

C

H

U

C

K

C

L

O

S

E

Chuck ClosePhoto-Realism

Self Portrait. 1991

“I paint heads because heads matter to everybody. If you paint a face big enough, it’s hard to ignore.”

“My real subjects are not people, I paint portraits of photographs”

“If you make something new and personal, it may not look like art at all.”

Self portrait 1991

Chuck ClosePhoto-Realism

In 1988 Chuck Close was hospitalized due to the sudden collapse of a spinal artery. He has since been paralyzed from the waist down.

He continues to paint on the same scale that he had always painted on. Now he has attendants that help him with the preliminary work, but he still does the actual painting.

Sometimes he sits on a forklift, and other times he uses a special mechanical easel that raises, lowers, and rotates his canvases for him.

Chuck ClosePhoto-Realism

Keith

Uses a grid to enlarge the photos onto the canvas.

Frontal head posed in almost a passport-photo view

Unsmiling lips and dead-pan eyes.

Used several different media to create his portraits:

Airbrush, Fingerprints, Crayon, Acrylic Paint, Oil Paint, Pencil, Pen, Paper Collage,

Chuck Close Gallery

Alex 1987

C

H

U

C

K

C

L

O

S

E

April 1991

Cindy 1988

C

H

U

C

K

C

L

O

S

E

Elizabeth 1989

C

H

U

C

K

C

L

O

S

E

Eric (in progress)

C

H

U

C

K

C

L

O

S

E

Joel 1993

C

H

U

C

K

C

L

O

S

E

Self portraits

Chuck Close

Roy II

Lucas 1991

Chuck CloseA Portrait in Progress