Chuck Close

Yesterday we went to the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio, to see an exhibit of portraits by Chuck Close. We also enjoyed exploring the museum's permanent collection. Three years ago, the museum tripled its size (new addition pictured above). The expansion makes this museum well worth a day-trip to Akron.

Self-Portrait by Chuck Close (above)

Familiar Faces: Chuck Close in Ohio Collections demonstrates why Chuck Close is one of America's most important contemporary portraitists, capturing his subjects in exacting photo-realism by employing the grid method. His monumental portraits in a variety of media are fascinating to study in person. Across the room, the image melds together to depict the texture of skin, hair, etc. Up close, you may find the image is no more than a grid of painted circles, or of torn paper, or just made up of the artist's own thumbprint, varied perfectly to create a pixelized image of staggering accuracy.