Art History - Book Report/Review Example

Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress Chuck Close has been presenting his series of black and white portrait heads for almost half a century. Since 1969, his paintings continue to enchant many people around the world. Close works mostly from instant photographs, and he does the painting himself. Close started painting early in life as a way of overcoming his learning disabilities. In 1988, at the age of 48, Closes spinal artery collapsed. Close was paralyzed from the neck down, and he feared that he would never paint again due to this accident.

However, in a miraculous twist, he was able to regain movement and paint successfully again.Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress unearths the artists journey and follows Close into New Yorks modern art community. This captivating documentary, directed by Marion Cajori, explores the artists motivating story. The documentary presents thought-provoking and vibrant portraits by the artist. The documentary features appearances by many famous artists including Leslie Close, Mark Greenwood, Philip Glass, Alex Katz, Kiki Smith, Robert Storr and Dorothea Rockburne.

Watching this video is a great experience especially now when I am about to start my self-portraits using the grid method applied by Close. This is an awesome series that I believe will help me in this. One inspirational moment in the video is when Close talks about his recovery from the event. The video also allows one to watch Close talk about his paintings and listen to the opinions of his contemporaries about the painting. In the video, one also views the artist work on a portrait from start to finish!

The interviews of his fellow artists about the colossal heads takes us deeper into the works of this extraordinary artist. At first the heads appear confrontational, but then mushroom with energy, and enthrall the viewer with their artistry energy. The best part of the interviews is to listen to the description and the opinions of the other artists and Closes wife while the camera takes you to the painting being described.However, I must point out that there are distractions in the video from the background that makes it difficult to hear the conversations in the video.

In addition, the editing format has made the video to be slow paced, and this decreases the attention span of the viewer. However, you can get around this by fast-forwarding the video.References:"Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress." YouTube. Ed. Marion Cajori. N.p., 30 May 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.