Chuck Close - Red, Yellow, and Blue: The Last Paintings

Chuck Close is an American artist known for his highly detailed photorealistic portraits. He was born on July 5, 1940, in Monroe, Washington. Close gained prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his large-scale portraits, which often depict his family, friends, fellow artists, and himself.

Close's artistic style is characterized by his innovative approach to portraiture, using a grid system to break down images into small, manageable squares. He typically works from photographs and meticulously recreates them on a larger scale, often using unconventional materials such as thumbprints, fingerprints, or even paper pulp. His works blur the line between photography and painting, capturing the minute details of his subjects' faces.

However, in the years leading up to his death in 2021, Close faced controversy due to allegations of sexual harassment, which led to some institutions reevaluating their relationships with him. Now, an exhibition at Pace Gallery in Chelsea is displaying his final paintings, some for the first time.

The Red, Yellow, and Blue series features a process where the artist first paints his subject in red, matching the grids on his canvas to that of his source photograph. The process is repeated in blue, producing a violet-toned version of the original. Then yellow is added, bringing full color to the portrait, with depth and dimension growing as it progresses. Seeing examples of the technique at every stage is one of the wonders of the exhibit.

Red, Yellow, and Blue also features two unfinished works by the artist. The exhibition will run from February 23 to April 13.

If you’re planning to visit the exhibit, consider making an event of it with a Chelsea art gallery crawl. The exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein’s Bauhaus Stairway Mural at Gagosian has been extended through March 16, and we found Alexis Bruchon’s Nomad exhibition at Philippe Labaune Gallery particularly charming (on display through March 9).