Chuck Close

Chuck Close is most known for his large scale paintings of portraits of people. His attention to detail is superb. His paintings look so much like photographs that it is extremely hard to tell the difference between the original and the paintings. He has done many portraits of himself, celebrities, etc. During the time when began painting many people were doing a lot of abstract work and there was little to no competition for realistic art. His signature photorealistic style set him apart from other artists at the time like Andy Warhol. Along with his photo realistic paintings he has also done some work in the abstract category. After he had a spinal artery collapse in 1988 he was left partially paralyzed. He now paints with a brush strapped to his wrist because he no longer has the ability to use his fingers. He still creates amazing large scale portraits but they are much different than the ones that he created in the 1960's. He uses shapes like ovals, circles, squares, and oblong swirls filled with different colors to bring across his images.