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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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Exlpore more Portrait quotes
"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."
"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."
Explore more quotes by Chuck Close
"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."
"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."
"It doesn't upset artists to find out that artists used lenses or mirrors or other aids, but it certainly does upset the art historians."
"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."
"I discovered about 150 dots is the minimum number of dots to make a specific recognizable person. You can make something that looks like a head, with fewer dots, but you won't be able to give much information about who it is."
"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."
"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."
"Sometimes I really want to paint somebody and I don't get a photograph that I want to work from."
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