Chuck Close Biography

“I am one of the luckiest people in the world.” You would think that a quote like that would come from someone who has fame, fortune, health, and a perfectly working body. But in this case, you’re wrong. This quote was said by an artist named Chuck Close. He has a few types of disabilities that make him not remember faces, not be able to read very well, and not be able to move from the shoulders down. But he is still well known for his portraits that are very realistic and abstract. Chuck Close was born on July 5th, 1940 in Monroe Washington. He grew up with his brother Martin and his parents, Leslie and Mildred Close. Growing up, he didn’t do very well in school because he suffers from Dyslexia, which is a learning disability. This made his teachers think he wasn’t very smart, and didn’t try. But Chuck was very smart and he did try, it was just difficult for him. He showed his teachers that he really had a passion for learning through art. He would make elaborate art projects to prove himself to them. Close also suffers from a disease called Prosopagnosia, better known as face blindness. This disease causes him to not recognize faces. To help him remember people

from the University of Washington and from there he moved on to get his M.A. from Yale University. Around this time was when his artwork started getting noticed by more people. One of his biggest achievements that got him noticed is his self portrait, “Big Self Portrait”. It is a 9 foot high painting of himself made with around a half of a teaspoon of black paint that is watered down so it isn’t too harsh. He creates the sharp details with a razor blade. This portrait, along with his others, have lots of value in them. Close uses a grid system to help him focus on small parts of his portraits at a time. He doesn’t look back or step away from the picture because he said he wants to be able to make sure every part of the picture has the same amount of work put into