Second Year students recently worked together to create a portrait inspired by the American painter, artist and photographer, Chuck Close.
Close is known for his innovative conceptual portraiture, depicting his subjects. He also has a condition called prosopagnosia, more commonly known as ‘face blindness’; an impairment in the ability to recognise or differentiate between human faces.
He often paints abstract portraits of himself and others, which hang in collections internationally. His monumental portraits play with ideas of scale, colour and form and he has become famous for his gridded application of individual squares, which, although abstract up close, form unified, realistic images from afar.
The students were all given a square each of a painting to enlarge to A4 – taking it in turns they placed their square on to the wall to make a collaborative portrait. They were given a full range of materials to choose from individually while experimenting with their own skills and techniques – including paper, glue, oil pastel, pencil, chalk and pen.
“It was great to see the students working so well together to make this collaborative portrait based on the artist, Chuck Close. They found it interesting that his paintings are so detailed that they can be mistaken for photographs. Well done Second Year!”
Mrs Riddle, Art Teacher
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