The Strongest Optimist
Chuck Close
Have you ever had your whole life change from one accident? Taking away the one thing you love to do more than anything? This is what happened to an artist with the name of Chuck Close. Where others would lose hope and give up, living in sorrow for the rest of their lives he worked hard to continue to fulfill his greatest passion in life. It wasn’t easy and there for sure were many challenges, but that did not stop him. He is famous for his large scale photorealistic portrait paintings. When a blood clot in his spine left him paralyzed from the neck down,he thought he would never paint again.
Chuck close was born on July 5th 1940 in Monroe, Washington. His family is made up of his Mother Mildred wagner Close, Father Leslie Durward Close and his brother …show more content…
He continued his education to Yale and studied for a Master of Fine Arts at the Art and Architecture School there. Yale helped change his focus to photorealism. In the late 1960’s Close’s photo realism were ingrained in New York city. In 1969 one of his most known art pieces was shown, this was his portrait of composer Philip Glass. By the time the 1970’s rolled around his artwork could be found in some of the world’s finest galleries. He was also considered one of America’s best contemporary artists. In 2000 President Bill Clinton named Close one of the people to receive the National Medal of Arts. During 2007 his life was turned into a documentary: “Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress”. All of these achievements weren’t just handed to him. Chuck close did encounter some obstacles. Some of these obstacles included Close’s Prosopagnosia. This meant that he was unable to recognize a person’s face. He also suffered from an accident causing him to become paralyzed from the neck down. But these obstacles did not stand in his way, instead he developed new ways to continue to create
Chuck Close
Have you ever had your whole life change from one accident? Taking away the one thing you love to do more than anything? This is what happened to an artist with the name of Chuck Close. Where others would lose hope and give up, living in sorrow for the rest of their lives he worked hard to continue to fulfill his greatest passion in life. It wasn’t easy and there for sure were many challenges, but that did not stop him. He is famous for his large scale photorealistic portrait paintings. When a blood clot in his spine left him paralyzed from the neck down,he thought he would never paint again.
Chuck close was born on July 5th 1940 in Monroe, Washington. His family is made up of his Mother Mildred wagner Close, Father Leslie Durward Close and his brother …show more content…
He continued his education to Yale and studied for a Master of Fine Arts at the Art and Architecture School there. Yale helped change his focus to photorealism. In the late 1960’s Close’s photo realism were ingrained in New York city. In 1969 one of his most known art pieces was shown, this was his portrait of composer Philip Glass. By the time the 1970’s rolled around his artwork could be found in some of the world’s finest galleries. He was also considered one of America’s best contemporary artists. In 2000 President Bill Clinton named Close one of the people to receive the National Medal of Arts. During 2007 his life was turned into a documentary: “Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress”. All of these achievements weren’t just handed to him. Chuck close did encounter some obstacles. Some of these obstacles included Close’s Prosopagnosia. This meant that he was unable to recognize a person’s face. He also suffered from an accident causing him to become paralyzed from the neck down. But these obstacles did not stand in his way, instead he developed new ways to continue to create