Chuck Close from a distance looks like a weary old man but in actuality he still has the vitality of a young child and the wisdom of many generations already past. I see him as the long lost grandfather I never had, full of absolute joy about life in general and finding happiness in the simply beauty of the people around him. It is no wonder the subjects of his lifework are his friends, family and even his own face. Close reinvented the self-portrait in order to purge the viewer of any other earlier reference to any artist while they view his work. He worked on a colossal scale and his subjects were simply people’s faces so to many his work almost seems big and stupid. But it is the manner in which he paints it and the accuracy of the portrayal that amazes many viewers. Chuck starts all of his paintings with a large grid and paints in each individual square on the grid with various colors and shapes that look rudimentary and symbolic up close but when viewed from affair their create these huge, imperfection revealing portraits that are spot on every time. Almost every person he has ever painted immediately goes and changes their physical appearance after they view his rendition of them on canvas. Because it is so accurate like a mug shot almost showing both the beauty alongside with the ugly as it is and should be. He believes that there is a lot to learn about the personality and demeanor of person by studying the contours and wrinkles of their face especially when viewed and recorded over long periods of time.
Chuck Close views art as a form of communication and believes that he would not create art if there was no audience to view it and reciprocate their thoughts back to him. He also thinks his work is very narcissistic, because one of his greatest inspirations has been his own image and its progression over the years as he has had new experiences and faced different trials and tribulations. He has taught me to view people’s faces from a different perspective almost as a map of time or a recording of history based on each individuals facial structure. His work both before and after the loss of movement in his most of his body below his neck is similar in subject but differs in the outlook of the artist on life in general. Naturally his outlook was celebratory and thankful to be able to once again resume his life’s work even though after he had to paint with both hands and make his strokes with his full arm instead of just wrist and finger action. This outlook also affected the colors the he chose to paint with and many of his later works have been created with more bright colors as opposed to the gritty realism he portrayed in his early work with his use of more dull colors. “A painting can bring tears to your eyes but in its most basic form it is just colored dirt on a flat surface.” Chuck Close. Close sees painting as a transcendental experience in which an artist transforms this flat surface smeared with colored dirt into a window in which the possibilities are endless. One can create space where there’s is no space, intensely communicate emotions through the use of color, and literally transform this flat surface into something magical that takes the viewer’s mind into a new unexplored realm never before visited.
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