Chuck Close Quotes on Art

Chuck Close was a famous American realist painter, printmaker and photographer. He is best known for his large format portraits that range from photorealistic through to pixelated, almost abstractions of the face. Famous Chuck Close paintings include “Mark”, “Big Self-Portrait”, “Kate Moss”, “Fanny/Fingerpainting”, “Phil”, “Francesco”, “John”, and “Lucas”.

Mini biography: Born Charles Thomas Close on the 5th of July, 1940 in Monroe, Washington, United States of America. His mother was Mildred Wagner and his father Leslie Durward Close. Close married Leslie Rose and they had two children together: Maggie Sarah, Georgia Molly. The couple divorced in 2011. He married his second wife in 2013: abstract artist Sienna Shields and they were divorced in 2016. The artist died on the 19th of August, 2021 in Oceanside, New York, U.S. at the age of 81.

List of Famous Chuck Close Art Quotes

I am going for a level of perfection that is only mine.. Most of the pleasure is in getting the last little piece perfect. Chuck Close

Like any corporation, I have the benefit of the brainpower of everyone who is working for me. It all ends up being my work, the corporate me, but everyone extends ideas and comes up with suggestions. Chuck Close

I’ve always thought that problem solving is highly overrated and that problem creation is far more interesting. Chuck Close

I always thought that one of the reasons why a painter likes especially to have other painters look at his or her work is the shared experience of having pushed paint around. Chuck Close

I think a painter looking at a painting sees the image, but they also see how the image was constructed. Chuck Close

Inspiration is highly overrated. If you sit around and wait for the clouds to part, it’s not liable to ever happen. More often than not work is salvation. Chuck Close

I wasn’t a good student, I wasn’t an athlete, and I think that helped focus me early in my life. Chuck Close

I don’t know if I’m supplying any totally new information or whether it’s just putting the focus on a new aspect of that information. You certainly know something about a forest by flying over it in an airplane, but it’s not the same information you would get if you go through the forest and bump into the trees. Chuck Close

I’m not a big fan of public art, to tell you the truth, because there’s value in choosing to go look at stuff. You choose to go to a museum or a gallery. I don’t necessarily want to bump into it in the street. Even by really great artists. Chuck Close

If the surface information is consistent enough then the surface of the painting will disappear. Inconsistency draws attention to the surface itself and again interferes with the content of the work. Chuck Close

Chuck Close Self Portrait Painting

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Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: Andrew Wyeth, Odd Nerdrum, Thomas Eakins and other Famous US Artists.