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.