FINCH, CHRISTOPHER
Chuck Close is one the most acclaimed, and recognizable, american artists to emerge since Andy Warhol. His larger-than-life self-portraits look out from the walls of museums and galleries throughout the world. Rebelling against the critical dogma of the 1960´s , Close reinvented the art of portraiture, and his work is represented in every major public collection of modern art. But until now, Close´s moving personal story has not been told.
With style and authority, Christopher Finch reveals the human reality behind Close´s visually eloquent but eternally silent portraits. A veteran writer and critic, he has known close intimately since his early days in the rough-and-tumble bohemia of 1960´s New York. Finch details Close´s struggle with learning disabilities as a youth and tells of his surprising journey as an aspiring artist, from the industrial hinterland of Puget Sound to the pinnacle of New York art world. At the age of 48, close was struck down by a collapsed anterior spinal artery and letf almost completely paralyzed. With extraordinary determination, he avercame a disability that threatened to end his career, not only learning to paint again but producing work of extraordinary richness, equaling and even surpassing his previous achievements.