RIP Chuck Close, one of my favorite artists.
From childhood, he suffered from face blindness: he said that if he met his best friend on the street, he couldn’t recognize him. this led to his devoting his painting career almost entirely to full-face portraits. then he had a massive stroke which confined him to a wheelchair and severely limited his ability to paint. he responded by coming up with whole new ways to make portraits. the b&w portrait below is made entirely with thumb-prints using an inkpad. i’d love his work even if it hadn’t developed in response to these challenges, but knowing his story somehow makes the portraits more affecting for me.
