Chuck Close. Infinite: Personal Exhibition

The rigor and mathematical precision of the grid led many critics to describe Close’s method as “scientific.” Yet this same structure produced an unexpected musicality. The repetition of forms generated rhythmic cadence, while color variations acted as chromatic modulations. “I’m working with the color equivalent of a musical chord—a kind of color chord,” Close once explained.

In the age of the selfie, portraiture often serves to mediate photographic reality. For Close, it went deeper. Art became a way to process physical and emotional hardship and a means to assert agency over adversity. In addition to a spinal condition that left him partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair from 1988 onward, Close also lived with prosopagnosia (face blindness), which made it difficult for him to recognize faces. Ironically, it was this condition that inspired him to paint portraits in the first place—to preserve the images of those most important to him. Despite these neurological challenges, he didn’t just succeed as an artist—he thrived because of them.

In his downtown Manhattan studio, portraits filled the space: Kate Moss, Brad Pitt, Lou Reed, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama—even Close himself. Actors, musicians, politicians, and fellow artists all sat for his lens. Many noted the duality of the experience: on one hand, the intimacy of a conversation with a close friend; on the other, the discipline of a meticulously structured photographic process.

“The immediacy of making the picture, changes the relationship between the subject and the artist, who together witness the image come into being after the photograph is pulled from the camera and the chemicals perform their function. You both work together to get something that you want out of it. Your subject knows what you’re trying to do.” – chuck Close