Chuck Close: Life and Works 1988-1995

In 1988, an occluded spinal artery left painter Chuck Close partially paralyzed, yet since his injury, this artist famed for his monumental photorealist portraits has produced some of his most vigorous and intense work. This informal scrapbook, which reproduces all of his new paintings from the last seven years, includes an interview conducted by his friend, playwright John Guare, plus Guare's commentary on Close's new directions. Many of the artist's larger-than-life-size faces are now patterned into gridlike human ``landscapes'' composed of myriad cells, each cell filled with a swirling miniature blob of color. This slightly eerie technique adds a psychological dimension to Close's deconstructions of the way our brains rearrange visual sensations into coherent images. Featured here are his portraits of many contemporary artists, including April Gornick, Eric Fischl, Cindy Sherman, Roy Lichtenstein, Dorothea Rockburne and Francesco Clemente. First serial to Interview magazine. (Dec.)