Quote

Art saved my life in two ways. It made me feel special, because I could do things my friends couldn't, but it also gave me a way to demonstrate to my teacher that, despite the fact that I couldn't write a paper or do math, I was paying attention.

Chuck Close

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Chuck Close
Age: 81 †
Born: 1940
Born: July 5
Died: 2021
Died: August 19
Drawer
Graphic Artist
Painter
Photographer
Monroe
Washington
Charles Thomas Close
Charles Close
Chuck Close (1940-2021)
Charles Close (1940-2021)
Also
Special
Math
Feel
Attention
Despite
Feels
Friends
Saved
Writing
Fact
Gave
Made
Write
Couldn
Way
Facts
Paper
Things
Art
Teacher
Demonstrate
Life
Two
Ways
Paying

More quotes by Chuck Close

Image
It's like a magic well. You think you know everything about [a] photograph, you think you've gotten everything out of it, and all of a sudden I see things in it I'd never seen before.
Chuck Close
Image
Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will - through work - bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great art idea.
Chuck Close
Image
The camera is objective. When it records a face it can't make any hierarchical decisions about a nose being more important than a cheek. The camera is not aware of what it is looking at. It just gets it all down.
Chuck Close
Image
I don't work with inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.
Chuck Close
Image
The reason I don't like realist, photorealist, neorealist, or whatever, is that I am as interested in the artificial as I am in the real.
Chuck Close
Image
Those who are waiting for an epiphany to strike may wait forever. The artist simply goes to work, making art, both good and not so good.
Chuck Close
Image
What difference does it make whether you're looking at a photograph or looking at a still life in front of you? You still have to look.
Chuck Close
Image
Painting is a lie. It's the most magic of all media, the most transcendent. It makes space where there is no space.
Chuck Close
Image
All the fingerprint paintings are done without a grid.
Chuck Close
Image
I think the problem with the arts in America is how unimportant it seems to be in our educational system.
Chuck Close
Image
I did some pastels and I did other pieces in which there was just basically one color per square, and then they would get bigger and I could get 2 or 3 colors into the square, and ultimately I just started making oil paintings.
Chuck Close
Image
It's always a pleasure to talk about someone else's work.
Chuck Close
Image
I learned you could suffer a terrible tragedy and still be happy again.
Chuck Close
Image
Sculpture occupies real space like we do... you walk around it and relate to it almost as another person or another object.
Chuck Close
Image
Any innovation that is evident in my paintings is a direct result of something that happened in the course of making a print.
Chuck Close
Image
I'm plagued with indecision in my life. I can't figure out what to order in a restaurant.
Chuck Close
Image
At the same time that I'm finding the color world I want, I'm also trying to make the imagery, you know, by the nature of the strokes themselves.
Chuck Close
Image
You know, the way art history is taught, often there's nothing that tells you why the painting is great. The description of a lousy painting and the description of a great painting will very much sound the same.
Chuck Close
Image
I have a great deal of difficulty recognizing faces, especially if I haven't - if I've just met somebody, it's hopeless.
Chuck Close
Image
I always thought that one of the reasons why a painter likes especially to have other painters look at his or her work is the shared experience of having pushed paint around.
Chuck Close