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Press Releases | |
May 10, 2000
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Distinguished Portraitist Chuck Close to Receive Honorary Doctorate
Jane Finalborgo
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081Bridgehampton Artist Overcame Near-Paralysis; Noted for Generosity
Southampton, NY - For over 40 years, Chuck Close's paintings of his fellow artists and friends have redefined the ancient art of portraiture, making him known as the reigning portraitist of the Information Age.
For his lifetime of achievement both artistic and altruistic, on Sunday, May 21 at 2 p.m., Close will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in commencement ceremonies at Southampton College of Long Island University.
Close's giant mosaics of abstract color, reborn as faces when one steps back and sees the whole, have been exhibited extensively, including a solo retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1998. Despite near-paralysis during the last decade, he has earned the nickname Mayor of SoHo for his warmth and generosity. He also has a home and studio in Bridgehampton. He lives with his wife Leslie and their two daughters.
Close broke the mold of representational portrait painting in the 1960s, creating enormous faces of himself and his artistic circle that explore the enchanting boundary between representation and abstraction. He is now perhaps the most distinguished portraitist of our time. Working from photographs, he recreates the subject's face by dividing it into grids composed of abstract oblongs and swirls of color. Up close, one sees thousands of brushstrokes; step back and one recognizes headshots of people like artist Roy Lichtenstein and composer Philip Glass. Continuing undiminished since the collapse of a spinal artery left him nearly paralyzed, Close's work has been the subject of more than 100 solo exhibits.
Defying the eighth-grade teacher who told him to go into fender repair, Close went on to receive BFA and MFA degrees from Yale. He has won Fulbright and National Endowment of the Arts grants and was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Letters in 1992.
Generous with his time, he gives back to the community and helps fellow artists, serving on boards of arts groups ranging from the American Academy in Rome and the Tiffany Foundation of Yale Art Gallery to A Studio School in New York and Very Special Arts in Washington, D.C.