Chuck Close: Contemporary Art Rock Star

A Wheelchair Hasn't Slowed The Famed Portrait Painter

(CBS)  Every day, Chuck Close, a rock-star of contemporary art, paints little squares.

"The building blocks for my paintings are not symbolic," he told Sunday Morning anchor Charles Osgood. "They don't stand for anything. It's a little bit like an architect — picking up a brick. You stack up the bricks one way, you get a cathedral. You stack up the bricks another way, and you get a gas station."

Take a step back and it becomes clear that Close is not painting a gas station. It is his daughter, Georgia.

Over four decades, Close has been re-inventing the art of portrait painting — even though for falmost two decades, he has been doing it sitting in a wheelchair.

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Click here to see some of Close's paintings.

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Close, 66, is one of the most popular working artists today. A New York opening of his images in November created a crush of humanity. Last month, a traveling national exhibit of his prints arrived at the Orange County Museum of Art in California. A few days later, a retrospective of his career opened at the Queen Sophia Museum of Art in Madrid.

He begins his portraits with a photograph, which he divides into squares.

"Every square here," Close said gesturing to a painting, "will become four squares in the painting. There is no drawing on the canvas other than the grid. I never draw a nose. I never draw a lip."

Sunday Morning first visited Close in 1981. He was working out on an exercise bicycle in his New York studio. The visit was during his photo realism period. Close's paintings were so real — some viewers thought they were looking at photographs. And they were also big — really big. The first painting close sold was a 9-foot picture of himself — blemishes and all.

"There's all kinds of evidence imbedded in the person's face as to what kind of lives they've led, a sort of a roadmap of their life," he said then. "They've laughed their whole lives, they have laugh lines. If they've frowned their whole lives, they have furrows in their brows."

When Sunday Morning visited Chuck Close again in 1991, the roadmap of his life had taken an unexpected turn. He could barely walk. Three years earlier at age 49, a blood clot formed in an artery leading to his spine. For weeks he couldn't move any part of his body below his shoulders and he feared he would never paint again.

"I was scared to death," he said. "I think I always thought I was going to make it. I was scared of living trapped in a body that didn't work."

His wife convinced doctors that encouraging him to paint again would help her husband recover, physically and mentally.

"And we began to work with my occupational therapist in the hospital," Close said. "Tried to get the orthotic devices, something that I could use to hold the brush. And they built me a wheelchair-accessible easel. I used occupational therapy for what I thought it was supposed to be — a way to get back to your occupation. And I started to paint while I was still in the hospital."

[bmsbms29]

It's interesting to see his art. He appears to be drawing / painting the same type as Seurat.
(you learn more than you think in Art Appreciation!)

Arkansas

[hcchilitoo]

I enjoy watching Sunday Morning and try to every week. Was very interested in story about Chuck Close for two reasons. My father was an artist and loved to paint until he had a spinal stroke. I noticed that Mr Close also had such a stroke. Many people have not heard of this malady. I was wondering if anyone has any more info about these strokes . If only my father had seen this man's work before he died then he may have been inspired to paint again.

[djmc13]

I love photoghraphy. I was in awe of this artist ability to transform a photo into such facinating paintings.I never heard of this artist but his work is beautiful.You can see the love in his potraits of his family.I hope i can see it on display somewhere soon.

[juliebuck-2009]

Sigh.

I am thoroughly disgusted with your use of the phrase "confined to a wheelchair" in your story about Chuck Close. Not only did you use it in the televised version, you continue using it in your web story!

Why didn't you do your homework to learn that the disability community really despises that phrase? Why "confined?" Is he handcuffed to the chair? Duct-taped?? Stapled??

No, he simply uses the wheelchair to aid mobility. Besides, you show him walking on his own -- slow and probably for short distances, but ambulatory.

In his introductions, Charles Osgood also used the word "courage." Again, another over-used word as far as disability goes. You missed "inspirational." Using two out of three of the most despised words in the disability community -- sad.

This has really affected my opinion of your program. "Sunday Morning" is supposed to be an enlightened program -- you blew it with this story.

Watching this story....disability is a pretty minor aspect, isn't it? Successful artist before -- successful artist after. Same technique -- just a few adjustments. Really, you missed the point of Mr. Close's story: his disability HASN'T turned his life upside down.

Again, your show is supposed to be more enlightened than this.

Respectfully,
Julianne Buck
Illinois