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"I wanted to translate from one flat surface to another. In fact, my learning disabilities controlled a lot of things. I don't recognize faces, so I'm sure it's what drove me to portraits in the first place."
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"The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt."
"I do house things. I paint. I do portraits. I also paint my house."
"The best portraits are those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature."
Explore more quotes by Chuck Close
"I think most paintings are a record of the decisions that the artist made. I just perhaps make them a little clearer than some people have."
"Painting is the most magical of mediums. The transcendence is truly amazing to me every time I go to a museum and I see how somebody figured another way to rub colored dirt on a flat surface and make space where there is no space or make you think of a life experience."
"Part of the joy of looking at art is getting in sync in some ways with the decision-making process that the artist used and the record that's embedded in the work."
"You know, the way art history is taught, often there's nothing that tells you why the painting is great. The description of a lousy painting and the description of a great painting will very much sound the same."
"What difference does it make whether you're looking at a photograph or looking at a still life in front of you? You still have to look."
"Most people are good at too many things. And when you say someone is focused, more often than not what you actually mean is they're very narrow."
"Sometimes I really want to paint somebody and I don't get a photograph that I want to work from."
"I did some pastels and I did other pieces in which there was just basically one color per square, and then they would get bigger and I could get 2 or 3 colors into the square, and ultimately I just started making oil paintings."
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