Items related to Chuck Close Up Close
Synopsis
"When every kid on the block wanted to become a policeman or fireman, I wanted to be an artist. It was the first thing that 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." These are the words of Chuck Close, one of America's most celebrated artists and the subject of this inspiring and thought-provoking book. Through interviews conducted with Close as well as an analysis of his technique, acclaimed authors Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan explore the ways in which an artist's life and work intertwine. Close's remarkable larger-than-life portraits are the result of a carefully constructed system that finds its roots in both his struggle to overcome severe learning difficulties as a child and immense physical challenges later in life. With full-color reproductions of Close's work as well as additional material on portraits and portraiture, plus a glossary and bibliography, this is an engaging and accessible study of an extraordinary artist, the subject of over one hundred one-man shows, including a retrospective exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
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From School Library Journal
Grade 3 Up?Based on interviews, this is an inspiring look at the contemporary artist who struggled with learning disabilities as a youngster, became a celebrated painter in the late 1960s, and later overcame paralysis to continue creating huge portraits in which the image is created by a multitude of small abstract units. Sometimes Close makes the abstract units by inking his finger and pressing it on the canvas over and over. His way of working, as it developed from photorealism to his current unique style, with its relationship to computer art and photomechanical reproduction, is inherently interesting, while the way his portraits almost magically seem to emerge as one gets far enough away from the canvas is clearly shown in the excellent-quality full-color reproductions. Close's story is doubly inspiring, both for the discipline he has developed and for the importance in his life of friends and family. There is enough information for reports, but the book is engaging enough for pleasure reading. Also included are an essay, "What Is a Portrait?" illustrated with works by other artists; a bibliography (all adult titles); and a list of museums that have works by Close. Individual biographies of contemporary artists are still rather scarce. This one has more information than Mike Venezia's Jackson Pollock (1994) or Andy Warhol (1996, both Children's), and lacks the irreverent cartoons of those titles. Viewers will be instantly captured by the cover of this book, a detail of just the eyes and nose of one of Chuck Close's distinctive self-portraits.?Pam Gosner, formerly at Maplewood Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
On the heels of John Guare's biography for adult readers, Chuck Close: Life and Work 19881995 (1995)--which covers Close's work since 1988, when a collapsed spinal artery left Close paralyzed below the shoulders--comes a biography from Greenberg and Jordan (The American Eye, 1995, etc.) that profiles the artist's entire life. As a child, art rescued Close from the frustrations of learning disabilities that made school a struggle; he developed ``painstaking discipline'' that helped him paint later in life, even when physical disabilities threatened to end his career. As in their other collaborations, the authors meld the artist's biography with their readings of his art. Close's feelings for his friends are conveyed through his gargantuan portraits of them and his multiple interpretations of their photographs. Full-color illustrations show both finished works, and the processes through which they are made, including scenes of Close on the forklift he uses to move around the canvas. In closing with a chapter on the history of portraiture that compares Close's works to those of other painters, the volume captures both the originality of Close's artwork, and the steady gifts of its creator. (glossary, bibliography) (Biography. 14+) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherRoaring Brook Press
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 0761317929
- ISBN 13 9780761317920
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages48
- Rating
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