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NEWS

Jail for Spanish Forger Who Attempted Sale of 15 Fake Works

February 21st, 2023

A Spanish court has sentenced an art collector to prison for selling a set of fake works, including a series of forged works attributed to Edvard Munch and Roy Lichtenstein.
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The Guardian Interviews Former Subjects of Painter Alice Neel

February 21st, 2023

The Guardian has a piece this week on what it was like to be painted by Alice Neel. “One day Alice said she wanted to paint me and to bring some things I could wear, so I packed a little suitcase and had various costumes,” says artist and sex activist Annie Sprinkle. “I’d just had my labia pierced and I was showing it off, and she really wanted to see that. She picked a leather outfit and I put a feather in my hair.”
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Alice Walton’s Art Bridges Foundation Behind $4.5 Million Robert Colescott Buy

February 21st, 2023

Alice Walton’s Art Bridges Foundation is apparently behind the $4.5 million purchase of a Robert Colescott at Bonhams this month. “This work in particular presents a hopeful and powerful message, and we are pleased that it resonated so strongly with individuals and institutions alike,” says Ralph Taylor, Bonhams’s global head for postwar and contemporary art.
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REFERENCE LIBRARY

Chuck Close

Image via NY Mag
b. 1940
Lives and works in:

Bridgehampton, New York

Represented by:

Pace Wildenstein Gallery, New York

Education includes:

University of Washington, Seattle, B.A.

Yale University School of Art and Architecture, B.F.A., M.A.

Akademie der Bildenen Kunste, Vienna

Close is known for his large-format paintings in a style called “photorealism” or “superrealism”, which often involves using a grid technique to enlarge a photograph and treat each square as its own painting. His “Big Self Portrait” was the first of his mural-sized works, and took four months to complete. He carefully transferred each square’s detail with acrylic paint and an airbrush. His concern for photographic elements such as shape, texture, volume and shadow can be seen in his precise painting technique.

Following a B.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle and a B.F.A and M.F.A. from Yale University, he studied at Akademie der Bildenen Kunste in Vienna on a Fulbright Grant. Shortly after his return to New York City in 1967, Close’s work was included in the Whitney Biennial in 1969, followed by a solo exhibit in 1970 and an exhibit at New York’s MoMA in 1973.

Big Self Portrait, (1968) via Telegraph

In 1988, a spinal blood clot left him a quadriplegic. With the help and canvas preparation done by his assistants, he developed a new way of painting with a paintbrush between his teeth. He began to use grisaille (a technique which uses only grey tints) and pointillism (a technique of using dots of color that seem to fuse together froma distance) within the grids rather than the precise photorealistic style. Each square in the grid is still treated as a mini-painting, which comes together as one large painting when viewed from a distance.

Bill Clinton, (2006) via Telegraph

His portrait subjects have included Richard Serra, Phillip Glass, Cindy Sherman, and Kate Moss.

The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, February 29- April 13 [ArtObserved]
Chuck Close curates at Flag Foundation [ArtObserved]
Chuck Close documentary debuts in New York[ArtObserved]
White Cube Mason’s Yard [ArtObserved]

External Links

http://www.chuckclose.coe.uh.edu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Close