A Closer Look
I am not trying to make facsimiles of photographs. Neither am I interested in the icon of the head as a total image. I don't want the viewer to see the whole head at once and assume that that's the most important aspect of my painting. I am not making Pop personality posters like the ones they sell in the Village. That's why I choose to do portraits of my friends -- individuals that most people will not recognize. I don't want the viewer to recognize the head of Castro and think he has understood my work. Chuck Close, 1970
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Self-Portrait
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.829427083333" id="zoomer_20911_6240iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/d2/4f/d331d024510207de992c01f2188e/140/120/20911.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Self-Portrait, Chuck Close" height_offset="0" /></div>
Kiki
<div style="width:140px; height:120px;"><div style="position:relative; width:93.24px; height:79.92px; margin-left:0px; margin-top:0px;"><div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:93.24px; height:79.92px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.84375" id="zoomer_22155_5938iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/d4/40/17b0dff4d46f51dfc8ad3bf84b25/93.24/79.92/22155.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Kiki, Chuck Close" height_offset="0" /></div></div><div style="position:relative; width:93.24px; height:79.92px; margin-left:46.62px; margin-top:-39.96px;"><div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:93.24px; height:79.92px;"><img src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/av.png" width="93.24" height="69.93" /></div></div></div>
Phil / Fingerprint
<div style="width:140px; height:120px;"><div style="position:relative; width:93.24px; height:79.92px; margin-left:0px; margin-top:0px;"><div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:93.24px; height:79.92px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.765625" id="zoomer_71610_42077iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/6c/a2/08b9aed8a9c46e65fe1bd83a46b4/93.24/79.92/71610.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Phil / Fingerprint, Chuck Close ; Pace Editions, New York ; Printed by Vermillion Editions Limited, Minneapolis" height_offset="0" /></div></div><div style="position:relative; width:93.24px; height:79.92px; margin-left:46.62px; margin-top:-39.96px;"><div class="zoomed_thumbnail_wrapper" style="width:100% height:79.92px; position:relative;"><div class="zoomed_thumbnail"><img class="inline_img" src="/cgi-bin/iipsrv.fcgi?FIF=/var/www/ace2/zoom/media/6c/a2/08b9aed8a9c46e65fe1bd83a46b4/scale.tif&rgn=0.480952380952381,0.32333333333333336,0.16326530612244897,0.125&WID=489.51&HEI=639.36&CVT=jpeg" width="79.92" height="79.92"/></div></div></div></div>
Big Self-Portrait
<div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:140px; height:120px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.783854166667" id="zoomer_22154_34756iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/96/ea/c4e65c6ca4e243b6f30089c1984f/140/120/22154.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Big Self-Portrait, Chuck Close" height_offset="0" /></div>
Frank
The model for this painting was not Frank himself but rather an 8 x 10-inch photograph of him. In the 1960s, Chuck Close photographed his subjects and then meticulously copied the photographic images, in paint, onto large canvases. With this painstaking technique, he preserved the objectivity of photography. Close also simulated the way the camera, like the human eye, focuses on one area at a time, leaving other areas blurred. By these means, he directed our attention to some intriguing aspects of visual perception.A work of such grand scale--typical of American painting after 1950--is unsettling, particularly when it features a colossal human head. "The large scale," Close explained, "forces the viewer to read the surface of the painting differently...[to] look at it piece by piece." The details, then, can be perceived either as facial pores and hairs or as an abstract pattern of black, gray, and white.
<div style="width:140px; height:120px;"><div style="position:relative; width:93.24px; height:79.92px; margin-left:0px; margin-top:0px;"><div class="unzoomed_thumbnail" style="width:93.24px; height:79.92px;"><img class="inline_img fake_0.756510416667" id="zoomer_4277_9757iip_loading" src="http://www.artsconnected.org/media/58/bc/4b967b347c7e8eef9a20e2de3565/93.24/79.92/4277.jpg" class="iip_loading" title="" alt="Frank, Chuck Close" height_offset="0" /></div></div><div style="position:relative; width:93.24px; height:79.92px; margin-left:46.62px; margin-top:-39.96px;"><div class="gallery_item_text" style="width:135px; height:115px;" >The model for this painting was not Frank himself but rather an 8 x 10-inch photograph of him. In the 1960s, Chuck Close photographed his subjects and then meticulously copied the photographic images, in paint, onto large canvases. With this painstaking technique, he preserved the objectivity of photography. Close also simulated the way the camera, like the human eye, focuses on one area at a time, leaving other areas blurred. By these means, he directed our attention to some intriguing aspects of visual perception.A work of such grand scale--typical of American painting after 1950--is unsettling, particularly when it features a colossal human head. "The large scale," Close explained, "forces the viewer to read the surface of the painting differently...[to] look at it piece by piece." The details, then, can be perceived either as facial pores and hairs or as an abstract pattern of black, gray, and white.</div></div></div>
