Artists I Love #1: Chuck Close

So I thought I'd start off my first post by talking about the artist who has influenced me most so far in my lifetime, that would be the brilliant Chuck Close. I just love him, and all his work. His skills at capturing the realism of someone's face, the expression of a particular person caught in that one moment of time just astounds me and for a good few years now I have been extremely fascinated by his work and have even sought to emulate/recreate it in some way.

His 10ft+ images are undeniably overwhelming to look at. I was lucky enough to be in New York when his painting 'Mark' was being exhibited - seeing it in real life made me realise not just the grandness of his large scale works but the detail too. They are incredibly life like - I've never seen anything closer to real life in a painting and I personally like to create realism in my own paintings so seeing Close's inspires me to better my own work. I like the fact that Close tends to paint non-famous faces too. His 'Heads' as he calls them are of family and friends, never someone who would instantly be recognised because he says that it keeps the viewers reaction as fresh and not tainted with pre-supposed ideas and assumptions of the person. Well thats what I think he means anyway. The paintings really speak for themselves, no amount of words can justify what you're getting visually and I think that is one of the greatest things to achieve as an artist.

Here are some of my favourite paintings by Close: