Chuck Close, Self Portrait

Chuck Close: A Couple Ways of Doing Something opens to a members-only preview on Friday June 19, with the public opening on Saturday June 20. The exhibtion features fifteen of Chuck Close's delicately intimate daguerreotypes (including striking enlargements) of leading contemporary artists, paired with Bob Holman's witty and beautifully typeset poems.

Running through Sunday, August 2, A Couple of Ways of Doing Something evolved from the extraordinary daguerreotype portraits created by Chuck Close. 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 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.