Chuck Close

Born in Monroe, Washington, in 1940, Close studied painting at Yale University before moving to New York in 1967. Although he greatly admired Abstract Expressionist painters such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and, especially, Willem de Kooning, he wrote, "They nailed it down so wellthat I couldn't do anything but weak impersonations of their work. . . . Once you know what art looks like, it's not hard to make some of it. . . . The dilemma I found myself in after …

…the realistic one the grid is used just to portion off areas that Close can draw perfectly. Chuck Close is so far my favorite artist I have analyzed. He puts a lot of time in his work. Especially for the realistic paintings and for the abstract paintings he also puts in lots of time, but I especially like the creativity in the grid of the abstract paintings. Chuck Close is someone I can really admire.