January 17, 2009 -May 31, 2009
Northeast Bedroom Gallery

Chuck Close is known for his large-scale portraits, executed with unusual techniques and media.  He often used friends and family members as his subjects—this series depicts Keith Hollingworth, a sculptor who taught with Close at the University of Massachusetts in the late 1960s.  The six drawings and one study show Close experimenting with various ways of representing his subject, composing the image with a mass of small dots or marks, almost like hand-made pixels.  Although Close is certainly interested in exploring Keith's identity through the series, he inserts his own presence into the images as well:  three of the drawings are composed of the artist's own fingerprints.