Chuck Close Alchemy: Using Adversity to Create Magic

If you're an artist in the 21st century, chances are you've heard of master-colorist and brush-wielder extraordinaire, Chuck Close. Considered one of the most influential artists of our time, he is quite frankly, unstoppable. Recognizing his thirst to paint at a very young age, he has not allowed anything to stand in his way, maneuvering every challenge into an opportunity. At age 48, after an award ceremony, Close rushed to the hospital because of persistent chest pains. Within a few hours, Close was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a blood clot in his spinal column. But in a few months, he was back, brush strapped to a hand split, painting on a giant grid, in a new style better adapted to his more restricted brush movement. His style of photorealism built by thousands of little squares in a grid has moved art enthusiasts and critics everywhere.

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