Chuck Close is an American painter and photographer known for his photorealistic portraits. He uses a grid system to enlarge photographs onto large-scale canvases. His portraits are highly detailed yet lack traditional details about the subjects' lives. After suffering a spinal injury in 1988, Close continued painting from his wheelchair using specialized equipment. He is driven to paint faces because he believes they profoundly impact how people relate to each other.

1. Chuck Close Life Vocabulary Artwork Questions/ quiz

2. Chuck Close Life Chuck Thomas Close (born July 5, 1940, Monroe, Washington) is an American painter and photographer In 1988, he received a spinal artery collapse and left him severely paralyzed, he has continued to paint and produce work which remains sought after by museums and collectors. Chuck Close was influence by the images of the Pop Artists . He paints mostly faces from photographs but none of his “ portraits ” are traditional. His portraits tell us nothing about the subject’s lives, feelings, character, profession, or social status. Almost all of Close’s work is based on the use of a grid system as an underlying basis for the representation of an image.

3. Chuck Close Artwork Leslie. 1973 His artwork magnified every imperfection. His early work was created using an airbrush. The process of creating the painting was equally important to Chuck Close as the finished image.

4. Leslie 1973 C H U C K C L O S E

5. Chuck Close Photo-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.”

6. Self portrait 1991

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

8. Chuck Close Photo-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,

9. Alex 1987 C H U C K C L O S E

10. April 1991

11. Cindy 1988 C H U C K C L O S E

12. Elizabeth 1989 C H U C K C L O S E

13. Eric (in progress) C H U C K C L O S E

14. Joel 1993 C H U C K C L O S E

15. Chuck Close

16. Lucas 1991 The Grid System

17. Roy II

18. Self portraits

19. C H U C K C L O S E Questions/Quiz I use the grid system when I draw. What are the advantages of using this system? How is my artwork different from other artists portraits? Explain what makes it so different? What do you think the main message is behind my artwork?

20. C H U C K C L O S E Questions/Quiz The grid system is good for developing accurate proportions and it makes it easy to enlarge photos. One difference is that I work from a photograph while the other artists may have looked in a mirror. My portraits are massive and I paint them using a carefully selected range of values and tones. The message behind my artwork is……….what you make it. Back to goal page