Imagine, Chuck Close close-up’

This was a re-broadcast of an earlier program. It was an interveiw with alan Yentob of the American photo-realist artist, Chuck close.
At the age of 48 he suffered a bout of severe convulsions which left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Gradually he recovered some movement and now works in a wheel chair with his brushes strapped to his hands. He works very slowly and painstakingly. Time is not an issue for him. He says was influenced by his grandmother who spent a considerable amount of time in collecting various textile items. She was constantly knitting, sewing, etc. She made large crochet items which were assembled from many small squares or motifs. and also patchwork and knitting. She was never idle and this left a lasting impression on Chuck. He works very slowly and painstakingly, producing about 3 paintings a year. Each one takes him 4 months to make.
He works from photos … portraits of his friends which are taken on an enormous plate camera producing extremely large Polaroid images.
Almost all of Close’s work is based on the use of a grid as an underlying basis for the representation of an image. This simple but surprisingly versatile structure provides the means for his creative process. This segmented structure becomes quite apparent in final product.
It is both the scale and the particulate nature of his vision that attracts me. The concept of the underlying grid is pivotal in my knit work as well.

Prototype Video

The work for this submission is compiled primarily using Premiere Pro [with Photoshop used to manipulate the imagery.]
I have a rich resource of images relating to my knit structures which I have used to endeavour to illustrate the nature and composition of both the construction of the substrate, techniques and strategies; and the subsequent manipulation of these structures to create three dimensional interventions / forms.
It is difficult to choose which sections / images to use and in what order to place them on the Time Line in the program. Suffice it to say, the notion of compossibility, that is, the potential for simultaneity is pivotal to my work. Therefore, circularity and not linearity is fundamental.
I chose to use a sound track to play behind the video and initially I inserted two tracks from a Violin piece by Vivaldi.
The reason for this was as follows: Vivaldi [1678-1741]was known as ‘The Red Priest’ and was, a prolific composer in addition to his religious vocation.
I felt the strains of the violin would mimic, in sound, the path of the yarn in the knitted substrate.
However, although I had 4 attempts to Export this movie, I was not satisfied with the audio reproduction.
Ultimately I wondered if it was the sound track, so I deleted the Vivaldi and substituted the Allegro movement from Bach’s concerto in E, BWV,1042.
Although initially this proved also to be disappointing [so I concluded it wasn’t the recording that was at fault], after I burnt it to a DVD, it seemed to play in Quick Time satisfactorily? Your guess is as good as mine!