Self-Portrait Screenprint

Known for his large scale portraits, or “heads” as he likes to call them, Chuck Close works directly from photographs. His labor-intensive process includes dividing the photographic image into a grid of squares or diamonds, and then proportionally enlarging that grid onto a canvas. Each unit of the grid becomes its own miniature, abstract work of art. Close has remarked “I want to bring the viewer right up to the painting or the piece of paper so they can see how the image is built or see what the marks are like.” Collaborating with master printmakers, Close has translated many of his paintings into monumental prints. This particular edition of prints took two years to produce and was made using 203 separate colors, each applied with a distinct screen.

-Ellen Alvord, Weatherbie Curator of Education and Academic Programs, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (Jan. 2017)