CHUCK CLOSE cont.

 Chuck Close was born on July 5th, 1940 in Monroe, Washington. 

He was diagnosed with severe dyslexia. 

Had a neuromuscular condition that prevented him from playing sports.

His father died when he was 11 years old and his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Graduated from the University of Washington in 1962

Received his MFA from Yale in 1964.

Jackson Pollock's style impacted Close greatly

Paints large-scale, photorealist portraits

Uses oil and acrylic painting, photography, 
mezzotint printing and addition media

. 

http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/80/chuck-close

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-close-chuck.htm

Jeff Koons

 

 

Jeff Koons is a contemporary artist from York, Pennsylvania. His work investigates contemporary fascinations such as sex and desire, celebrity media, commerce and fame, and race and gender. As Andy Warhol did, Koons hires artisans and technicians to make the actual work we see in museums and on streets. He doesn’t believe that hands are an important factor of an artist. “Art is really just communication of something and the more archetypal it is, the more communicative it is.” Koons’ artworks do not stimulate reasonable responses. In fact, this is apart of the importance of his achievement. In some of the photos, such as the Balloon Swan and Tulips were made out of stainless steel and modeled after balloons. His works avoid people’s normal ideals of what good taste is in art. He doesn’t listen to the traditional way of art and rarely stays inside the boundaries of what people believe it is. He labels some of his works under banality, which means lacking in creativity and originality. The first artwork, of the little girl with the teddy bear, is placed under this category. Another category he puts his artworks under is statuary. The second picture, “Doctors Delight”, is placed in this one. This also depicts one of the fascinations, sex and desire. This statue, as well as the pink balloon swan, was made from stainless steel. My favorite works of art I’ve looked at of Koons is definitely the ones where he models balloon animals. I always loved getting them at birthday parties so seeing large portrayals of different types was very interesting. The mirror-polished stainless steel brings the balloon depiction to life. 

Chuck Close - Photorealist

                                                                       

                                                                       

Chuck Close is an American contemporary artist, who uses photography and painting to achieve photorealism. His portraits are massive-scaled (shown in row 3, right) and are high-focused as well. Close uses complex patterns in his artwork.  His portraits are very real looking. He uses many different painting and drawing techniques. Some painting and drawing techniques he’s perfected are graphite, watercolor, finger painting, ink, and stamp-pad ink on paper. He also because a pro at printmaking techniques, such as, Polaroid photographs, etching and woodcuts. Close says that in 1967 he made a choice to throw all his tools away and start making art that he had no competence with. He works from a gridded photograph. One stroke after another he puts together a work of art. He uses both multi-colors and gray scale. He has a systematic way of working, where he starts from the left hand corner of the canvas. I am intrigued by how life-like his portraits are. It is amazing once you realize that they aren’t photographs, they’re actually painting and drawings. The shadows and shading on the pictures in the second row, of the African American woman and man depicted in multi-colors, is incredible. It shows the oils and glare on their faces as if it were actual skin. The picture on the left of the third show is very detailed. It shows hairs that were out of place and some imperfections on her cheeks. It is amazing how tiny details bring these pictures to life even more. Not only does Close achieve photorealism but he also uses glass to make portraits as well. The backgrounds of his pictures are very plain, mostly one color, which helps the details of the person stand out more. The two pictures in the last row are an example of his later work. He uses a grid that is had roughly executed regions of colors.