Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration at the Corcoran Gallery of Art

This review is belated. In fact, the Chuck Close exhibit at the Corcoran is now closed – so I hope you were one of the fortunate ones to view the gallery before its closure on September 26th. I had the pleasure of attending this gallery show in the middle of the summer, a day shy of hearing Chuck Close’s formal lecture.

I must admit, before touring this show, I only thought of Chuck Close as the ‘big portrait’ artist. He’s so much more than that. Chuck Close is not only a portraitist, he’s a printmaker, a photographer, a painter, colorist, master of grid-structure, and even a paper-maker. Working in large scale medium is a challenge for any artist, but Chuck Close created phenomenal pieces with ease. He devised calculated methods to piece-together his large scale creations. His work is often viewed from afar because of the scale – but the real technique is seen when you view his pieces up close. One such piece (photo below) was so fascinating to me. In this piece, Chuck used layered pieces of color paper in grey scale to create a portrait with the depth and three-dimensional appeal of an actual painting. I must admit I started at this one for about 20minutes.

Hopefully this is a traveling show, and will hit a few other cities. It’s a real treat to view Chuck Close’s pieces in person. And it’s so rare to be able to view the magnificent work of an artist who is still alive to ‘tell the tale’.

close up

actual portrait