Realistic Representation

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Realistic Representation

• Chuck Close

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Enduring Understanding

• Through the study of these artworks,
• students discover
• 1.Why naturalism is selected as a means of
  expression.
• 2.How artists use the mechanism of realistic
  representation to realise its purpose and
  function.

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Essential Questions

• Overarching Questions
• 1. What are the criteria for a realistic artwork?
  
• 2. How do artists use realistic representation to
  express their artistic intentions?
• 3. How do artists use realistic representation as
  a mechanism to express social issues?
• Topical Questions
• 1. How is the subject matter in the artwork being
  represented?
• 2. Which artist is more successful in using
  realistic representation to express social
  issues?
• 3. Which artist is more successful in depicting a
  high level of technical skill?

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5W1H
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Keywords

• Photographic
• Super-realism
• Portraits
• Magnified
• Large scale
• Grids
• Finger-painting/Printmaking/Collage

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Big Self Portrait, 1968. Acrylic on canvas, 273
x 212 cm
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When

• Important events which influenced his life and
  artworks

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When

• Scholarship to Yale Summer School of Music and
  Art in Norfolk, Connecticut in 1961
• Unconventional approach to teaching (eg. Drawing
  with long sticks dipped in ink)
• It gave him the opportunity to visit New York art
  galleries and museums
• Pop artists were on the rise (1950-60s)
• Turn to photographic imagery as sources

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Where
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Where

• USA
• Abstract Expressionism and American advertising
  such as the billboards triggered an interest in
  large scale works in the 50s and 60s.
• However, Abstract Expressionism began to wane by
  1967, though Minimalism and Pop Art were still
  very much alive.

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Which

• Photorealism

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Which

• Photorealism- by Artlex
• Photo-Realism is used to describe a movement
  (late 1960s to the 1970s) rather than the
  approach or technique.
• A realistic painting approach that includes the
  reproduction of details. Photographs are usually
  used as a reference.
• As a result, the painting looks almost
  photographic.
• It refers to a type of illusionism also known as
  super-realism.
• Some other artists- Duane Hanson and Richard
  Estes.

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What

• Subject Matters
• Portraits
• Biomorphic Abstracts Grid paintings
• Human figures

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What

• Subject Matter- Portraits
• His aim was to achieve an all-over, frontal,
  two-dimensional effect within the parameters of
  representational art. (Finch, 2007, p.42).
• He wanted to create works that are also less
  overtly emotional.
• The poses of his models and himself- objective
  and emotionless, as if taking a photograph for
  the passport.
• He only paints portraits of people who were close
  to him (eg. friends and family)

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What

• Subject Matter - Biomorphic Abstracts
• In 1978 onwards, he began to work with dots,
  using fingertip in place of the airbrush.
• He also created portraits with evenly-spaced
  grid of plump lusciously-pigmented dots over a
  warm flesh-tinted ground and to mute the impact,
  he filled in these dots with smaller dabs of
  colour. (Finch, 2007, p. 155)
• Sometimes, these dots are stretched into an oval
  shape.
• Then, the small circles slowly gave way to
  diamond and lozenge shapes.

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How

• Uses grids as the underlying basis for his works.
• He draws the grid onto the primed canvas to
  ensure accuracy of copying from each square of
  the grid.
• He uses brushes, sponges, rags and an airbrush to
  lay down paint in thin transparent layers.
• Mimic the mechanical quality of a photograph
• He uses various kinds of blades and electric
  eraser to scrape the paint off in order to reveal
  more white underneath.
• He was intending to achieve an all-over effect
  in which every part of the canvas had equal
  importance.

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How

• Material
• brushes, sponges, rags and airbrush
• blades and electric eraser
• Techniques
• grid on primed canvas
• paint in thin transparent layers
• scrape the paint off in order to reveal more
  white underneath

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Black and White Heads
Big Self Portrait, 1968. Acrylic on canvas, 273
x 212 cm
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What- Big Self-Portrait

• An element of chance precedes this work.
• He was taking pictures of himself, stripped to
  the waist because he was still exploring the idea
  of the nude and thought of the head as a detail
  of the nude.
• His intention was to work from images that are
  not saturated with subjective information, the
  photograph however suggests a heck-care
  attitude.
• The black and white colour scheme was intended to
  emphasise the photographic origin of the image.
• Again, its a work meant to be viewed in close
  range. Every detail in this way, has been
  magnified much in a way when things are viewed
  under a microscope.

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Sample answersbased on Frank, 1969
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Black and White Heads
(a) Describe the subject matter in this work.
(Ans below in the text box)
Frank, 1969 Acrylic on canvas, 274 x 213 cm
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Black and White Heads
(b) How is this painting photorealistic? TIP
Look at How. This refers to the technique of
how the artist paints the portrait in a
photorealistic manner? (Ans below in the text
box)
Frank, 1969 Acrylic on canvas, 274 x 213 cm
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Black and White Heads
Nancy, 1968. Acrylic on canvas, 275.3 x 208,9 cm.
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Coloured Heads
Linda, 1975-76. Acrylic on canvas, 274.3 x 213.4
cm
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Coloured Heads
Mark, 1978-79. Acrylic on canvas, 274.3 x 213.4
cm
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His Finger Paintings
Phil/Fingerprint, 1979. Stamp-pad ink on paper,
76.2 x 56.2 cm
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His Finger Paintings
Fanny/Finger painting, 1985. Oil-based ink on
canvas, 259 x 213.4 cm National Gallery of Art,
USA
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His Grid Paintings(Biomorphic abstracts)
Self-Portrait, 1997. Oil on canvas, 259 x 213.4
cm Private Collection
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Using Dots
Lucas II, 1997. Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 76.2 cm
This is painted in a concentric circle structure.
It appears to have spokes extending from the
center- which creates a collective energy at the
center as this same energy diminishes to the edge.
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His Prints
Keith/Mezzotint, 1972. Mezzotint on paper, 130.8
x 106.7 cm.
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His Prints - (based on his biomorphic abstracts)
What is silkscreen? (Go and research on it)
Lyle, 2002. 147-colour silkscreen, 166.4 x 136.8
cm
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His Prints (based on his biomorphic painting)
See text box below for the Feldman
Analysis What is Japanese woodcut?
Emma, 2002. 123-colour Japanese woodcut, 109.2 x
88.9 cm
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Why

• Artists philosophy/intentions
• Influences

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Why

• His Background- His Early Years
• Close decided that he wanted to be an artist at
  the age of four/five.
• As an only child, his mother encouraged him to
  fill his solitude with creative activities.
• His father was an adroit (skillful) toy maker-
  something that might have influenced Close in his
  great respect for skills.
• It was his father who sent him to learn art from
  a woman with solid academic knowledge, whom they
  have met in a diner, for a period of over two
  years.

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Why

• His Background- His Early Years
• Close was subjected to the rigour of still-life
  painting, landscapes en plein air and figure
  drawing lessons.
• He used to analyze and imitate the works of
  illustrators for magazines like the Colliers and
  the Saturday Evening Post.

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Why

• His Background- His Early Years
• He suffered from a neuromuscular condition since
  he was very young and compensated the incapacity
  in sports with art.
• He is also dyslexic when he was discovered in
  school to be forming letters that are mirrored or
  upside-down.
• He learnt to break information down to smaller
  bits and reassemble them into a whole that turned
  out to be a fresh synthesis.

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Why

• His Background- His Early Years
• Close also discovered that he suffers from
  prosopagnosia- a condition that prevents him from
  recognizing faces as a result of a malfunction in
  a certain area of the brain.
• Today, he accredits the condition for his
  artistic interest in the mechanics of
  pictorialism.

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Why

• His Influence- Time Magazine Illustrators
• He admires artists for Time covers such as Ernest
  Hamlin Baker and Boris Chaliapin.

Mohandas Gandhi, June 1947 cover. by Boris
Chaliapin TIME Magazine
Bob Hope, Sept 1943 cover. by Ernest Hamlin
Baker TIME Magazine
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Why
His Influence- Jackson Pollock He was also
astonished with Jackson Pollocks drip paintings
when his mother took him to Seattle Art Museum,
expecting to see real pictures¹. This
transgression (overstepping boundary) was
beginning to appeal to him.
Number 23, 1948 Enamel on gesso on paper, 575 x
784 mm
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Why
His Influence- Willem de Kooning He was also
drawn to the figures of Willem de Kooning-
admired his ability to transform the figurative
elements into the Abstract Expressionism style.
Woman I, 1950-52. Oil on canvas, 192.7 x 147.3 cm
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Why
His Influence- Sol Le Witt He came upon Sol Le
Witts early wall drawings which took the form of
grids-
Modular Piece T, 1971 by Sol Le Witt Wood painted
white, 61.6 cm³
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Why
His Influence- Frank Stella He was inspired by
Stellas flat, frontal and non-relational
abstractions.
The Marriage of Reason and Squalor II, 1959 by
Frank Stella Enamel on canvas, 230.5 x 337.2
cm MoMA, New York
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Why

• Why Large Scale Works
• Close intended his large-scale works to be seen
  from close range (although he has no objection to
  his works being appreciated afar).
• He is more interested in the impact these huge
  works have on the audience at close range- the
  impossibility for them to digest the information
  in the conventional way (as in seeing it as a
  whole in one glance).
• For example, he wanted the audience to appreciate
  a female nude like a panoramic view of a
  landscape- shoulders become valleys and breasts
  become mountains.
• In this sense, hes attempting to achieve an
  abstract or less representational form with
  absolute likeness.

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Why

• His Background- The Event
• In the year 1988, Close became paralysed, neck
  down, after a period of intermittent attack of
  angina pains (also known as chest pains).
• He was able to paint again after seven months of
  rehabilitation but with restrictions to his
  mobility.

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Why

• Summary
• Dyslexia led him to reassemble smaller broken
  down information into a new synthesis
• Influenced by a myriad of artists (mainly
  abstract)- for his early works.
• Large scale to create impact at close range

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How

• Materials
• Techniques

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How

• Materials
• Acrylic
• Oil
• Paper- for collage works.
• Pastels- Closes fascination for pastels is due
  to the mediums purity and intensity. Pastels
  are dry powdered pigment without addition of any
  other medium.
• Stamp-Pad Ink
• Watercolour

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How

• Techniques
• Using photographs as a reference. In this case,
  the camera lens has already captured the 3-D
  aspect of the model and reduced it into a 2-D
  flat representation. This produces an illusory
  likeness through mechanical means¹.
• This also allows him to realise the variations
  in focus due to changing depth of field,
  something impossible when working from life.
  (Tate)
• It is not an indication of inferiority or
  superiority but more of a difference in approach
  and results.

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How - Closes Black and White Heads

• He worked from two maquettes, each an
  enlargement of a photograph squared off to
  accommodate a grid consisting of 546 squares.
• The first marquette is attached to a sheet of
  cardboard with masking tape and the other is a
  montage (mosaic) of four different prints, each
  quadrant comprising each quarter of his face.
• The first marquette was printed slightly darker
  in order for him to see the lighter detail.
• The canvas was prepared with a dozen coats of
  gesso, each coat being sanded down before the
  next application.
• see text box below for definitions.

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How - Black and White Heads

• Then, he transferred using a pencil from the
  photograph to the canvas, making use of the grid.
• Next, he used an airbrush with diluted acrylic
  paint to define the upper section of the image
  first, followed by the rest.
• He continued with the method, increasing the
  density of the pigment as he progresses.
• The highlights are created by removing the paint
  using razor blades and electric eraser.
• It is the same technique used by commercial
  artists.

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How - Closes Coloured Portraits

• He wanted his colour portraits to be consistent
  with the process he had used for his black and
  white heads.
• Instead of pre-mixing the colour on the palette
  before applying them, he uses the method of
  colour separations. By superimposing transparent
  colours of magenta, cyan and yellow upon one
  another on a white background, the full colour
  spectrum can be perceived by the eye.
• He thus forms the colour portraits with three
  very thin, transparent layers of diluted acrylic
  colours- magenta, cyan and yellow.

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How

• He experimented with various types of black and
  white mediums- ink, pencil, pulp paper,
• He also experimented with various types of colour
  medium- acrylic, ink, watercolour, Polaroid
  photographs and others.
• He also made occasional prints using mezzotint
  before the event.
• However, printmaking became more and more
  prevalent as a medium for his works in the 1980s.
• Close approach to his works is driven by process.

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How

• Summary
• Photographs as reference
• Using a 546-square grid system
• Primed canvas
• Pencil transfer
• Airbrush with diluted acrylic paint
• Scrape off paint to create highlights
• Method of color separation- builds them up from
  cyan, magenta and yellow.

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How
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How
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References

• Finch, C. (2007). Chuck Close Work. Prestel
  Verlag New York.
• Engberg, S. (2005). The Paper Mirror in Chuck
  Close Self Portraits 1967-2005.
• http//www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupi
  d999999961artistid920tabviewbio
• http//www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?
  criteriaOADE1156page_number1template_id6s
  ort_order1