Chuck Close• Living artist• Photo-realism• Portraits

Self Portrait 1997, Oil on canvas

Photo-Realism

Hotel Empire, Richard Estes

Chuck Close and Photo-Realism

• Large scale portraits• Family and friends• Uses Graphs to enlarge

Photographs• Six figure paintings

Frank. 1969 Oil on canvas 108 x 84”

Early Works

Phil.1969 Acrylic on canvas, 108 x 84"

Phil Watercolor. 1977, Watercolor on paper 58 x 40"

Big Self-Portrait. 1967-68. Acrylic on canvas. 107 1/2 x 83 1/2"

Linda. 1975-76. Acrylic and pencil on canvas. 108 x 84"

Fanny / Finger-painting (detail at left). 1985. Oil-based ink on canvas. 102 x 84"

Jud / Collage. 1982.Pulp paper collage on canvas. 96 x 72"

Leslie/Watercolor 1.1986. Watercolor on paper 30.25 x 22.25”

“When every kid on the block wanted to become a policeman or fireman, I wanted to be an artist. It was the first thing I was good at, the first thing that really made me special. I had skills the other kids didn’t have. Art saved my life.”

An Obstacle

• 1988 health problems• Hospitalization• Paralysis

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.

Overcoming All

• New studio• New techniques• New style

“ I had to recover enough to paint. There is nothing else I

can do. There is nothing else I want to do”

Chuck Close

The Studio

• When I was walking around I was 6 foot 3, and people didn't tend to approach me very much, and one of the interesting things about being in a wheelchair is it sort of cuts you down to size and perhaps out of sympathy or whatever people feel much more like coming up to you. I'm more accessible I guess down here.”

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.

Alex II. 1989. Oil on canvas. 36 x 30"

Roy II, 1994 .Oil on canvas, 102 x 84”

Kiki, 1968. Acrylic on canvas. 107 1/2 x 83 ½”

Elizabeth, 1989. Oil on canvas, 72 x 60”

“There’s a real joy in putting these little marks together. They may look like hotdogs, but with them I build a painting.”

Chuck Close

Judy, 1989-90. Oil on canvas. 72 x 60”

Chuck Close

Self-portrait. 1996. Oil on canvas

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 Chuck CLose

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

Alex 1987

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Alex 1987

April 1991

April 1991

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,

Keith

Cindy 1988

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Cindy 1988

Elizabeth 1989

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Elizabeth 1989

Eric (in progress)

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Eric (In Progress)

What other artist have we discussed was concerned for the purity of colorWhat style of art did he work in

Roy IIRoy ll

Self portraits

Chuck Close

Chuck Close

Lucas 1991Lucas 1991

Joel 1993

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Joel 1993

Mark (1978 - 1979), acrylic on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Detail at right of eye. Mark, a painting that took Close fourteen months to complete, was constructed from a series of airbrushed layers that imitated CMYK color printing..

Lucas (1986 - 1987), acrylic on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,. Detail at right of eye. The pencil grid and thin undercoat of blue is visible beneath the splotchy "pixels." The painting's subject is fellow artist Lucas Samaras.

“I discovered about 150 dots is the minimum number of dots to make a specific recognizable person. You can make something that looks like a head, with fewer dots, but you won't be able to give much information about who it is.”

Art 1• Objectives: Students will .• 1. Show an understanding and awareness of the

work of Chuck Close. Understand how an artist gets ideas.

• 2. Use ruler skills in creating a grid - develop skills in enlarging a composition using a grid. Study proportion.

• 3. Recognize values and create values using line, pattern and simulated textures. Develop Contrast through values.

Art 2• Objectives: Students will .• 1. Show an understanding and awareness of the work

of Chuck Close. Understand how an artist gets ideas.• 2. Use ruler skills in creating a grid - develop skills in

enlarging a composition using a grid. Study proportion.• 3. Recognize values and create values using line,

pattern and simulated textures. Develop Contrast through values.

• Students will translate value into color in the creation of a portrait (or image) in the style of Chuck Close.

• Students will enlarge an image using a grid (math correlation)

Forsyth Country Day School Teacher: Rebecca Stone-Danahy

Emily Branch; 4GKs; Portfolio, Art, Grade 12

South Central High School Teacher: Ira Varney, Grade 10Kaitlyn Worrell, Self-Portrait, Painting, American Vision Nominee

Sanderson High School Teacher: Jeannette Stevenson, Grade 12

India Cox; You Know, the Girl with the Squares, Painting