Blog #3, Part 1: Chuck Close

I found Chuck Close's portraits fascinating when I first saw them. They seem so life-like, so close the photograph that inspired the portrait. I found his process completely different than what I expected. The way he said, "...I work very close and seldom step back as I'm not interested in the gestalt of the whole head but rather in getting involved in the process...," threw me for a loop. I expected him, as I would, to step away every couple of strokes to make sure the portrait as a whole was coming together.

"I feel a kinship with those artists who have rid themselves of painterly language, who have taken the sculpture off its pedestal, and who have allowed material to flop around on the floor." I like how Chuck is more concerned with the actual process of making the painting and transmitting an idea, than "a check list of the ingredients a portrait painting is supposed to contain."

Also the fact that he chose to do portraits of his friends, because he knows their faces was very intriguing to me. I would expect an artist to prefer strangers, for fear of offending friends. "That's one of the reasons I paint my friends' faces. They are yardsticks which help me to measure how well my marks read."