Chuck Close, Self Portrait
Chuck Close: A Couple of Ways of Doing Something
December 31, 1969
For several decades Chuck Close has employed a range of printmaking and photography methods in his continuous investigations of the human face. In 2004, the artist began working with a Jacquard loom in Belgium. Chuck Close: A Couple Ways of Doing Something includes 7 large-scale tapestries, and a number of delicately intimate daguerreotypes and Polaroid portraits – a unique selection of work organized by the Aperture Foundation in New York. Close worked directly with us to arrange and install the exhibition.
Running through Sunday, August 2, A Couple of Ways of Doing Something evolved from the extraordinary daguerreotypes (including striking enlargements) of leading contemporary artists which have been paired with Bob Holman’s witty and beautifully typeset poems.
Throughout a career of more than four decades, Chuck Close has consistently sought to test the limits of the media in which he has chosen to work, from painting and Polaroid photography to holograms, tapestries and Japanese woodblock prints. "I have always been fascinated by how one way of doing something can kick open a door to another way," he has remarked. "For me, the original image serves as a matrix, from which I can explore issues of scale, information, and perception."
It represents an additional departure for Close because many of the daguerreotypes were produced in tandem with praise poems written by Bob Holman, founder of the Bowery Poetry Club. Together, they form composite portraits of their subjects and are the inspiration for the title of the exhibition and related publications. This project was made possible through the generous support of Lannan Foundation and Carey C. Shuart. Support for the exhibit at the SCM comes from Steve and Mary Graves, Craig and Edith Roland, the Gallo Family Wineries, Ann Sebastian and Lagunitas Brewery.
