Too Close for Comfort

Related Content

• John Armstrong
  February 25, 2010
• Highest Grid
  February 11, 2010
• The White Stripes Concert Movie, Limbeck, Civet, and More
  March 18, 2010
• Billie Maxwell's Records Are the Oldest Made By an Arizonan-- and John Dixon Wants One
  April 7, 2011
• MLB All-Star Game -- Jose Batista: Thank You For Not Being Pete Rose
  July 12, 2011

More About

• Chuck Close
• Marion
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Visual Arts

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

If you are a friend or family member of Chuck Close, God help you. You've most likely had your portrait blown up to a monumental size (we're talking 8x10 feet) to really show your asymmetry. Close became famous in the 1970s for the Godzilla-size photo-realist portraits he called "heads," an attempt to focus on process rather than character. With so much freakin' face, however, it's impossible not to attribute personality to his works. Here's how he did it: He took a photo, drew a grid over it, then drew a giant grid on a giant piece of paper and gave himself a giant headache filling each square. In the late ’80s, he suffered a rare spinal artery collapse, but has kept at his painstaking art in spite of the resulting paralysis. Put that all together and you've got one helluva life story. Watch it unfold at Contemporary Forum’s screening of Marion Cajori’s documentary Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress.
Wed., July 8, 7 p.m., 2009