Disability in the Arts: Chuck Close

           

The first artist that I have chosen to represent the disability in the arts community is Chuck Close. In my previous blog, I mention him as being disabled. He has not always been that way, so because of this his artwork has changed throughout his life. Close used to use his hands a lot when creating his masterpieces, but now he cannot rely on that.

            To begin, Close was born on the fifth of July in 1940 in Monroe, Washington, so he is an American citizen. He is still living which would put him in his seventies now, and continues to create portraits. When he was young, Close suffered from a learning disability in reading and struggled in his academics. He made up for that by having an exceptional talent for drawing and painting. Before his fifties, he was using a process called fingerpoint to create some of his portraits, but that would only be his style for a short while.

            In Close’s fifties, he suffered a severe spinal artery collapse, which damaged parts of his body. He can only partial use some of his arms and legs, and has to rely on a wheelchair now. When this happened, he stopped making artwork for a time, but eventually started back up with a new style. He continued to focus on portraits of people, which his models were his friends and family members. To be able to paint these massive portraits, he uses a motorized easel and a chair lift to get to his destination on the canvas. He has a special way of resting the paint brush on his hand, so he can make his marks. 

            Close has always been very interested in detail. Before his illness, he focused on every wrinkle, strand of hair, and other features on each person. Now he focuses more on color and each square he paints. His style is more abstract than it was beforehand, however his disability has helped in the long run. He is now shown in the world’s finest galleries around the world.