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Chuck Close — Joel
Chuck Close — Joel
Chuck Close

Joel

2002

This monumental portrait presents a frontal view of a male subject rendered in a distinctive pixelated technique that transforms the image into a dense grid of small circular and geometric forms. The composition employs a restrained palette of whites, grays, blacks, and muted blues, with the face emerging from a dark background through careful modulation of tone and value. The artist's characteristic photorealistic approach to figurative painting is here combined with an almost mechanical precision, where thousands of tiny gestural marks coalesce into a coherent likeness when viewed from a distance. The work exemplifies late twentieth century hyperrealist practice while simultaneously engaging with digital age aesthetics, creating a tension between intimate portraiture and technological mediation. Displayed at monumental scale on canvas, the work demands prolonged engagement from the viewer, revealing the labor intensive process beneath its deceptively smooth final appearance.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Overall

Notes

Pace Gallery solo presentation at TEFAF New York 2026, Booth 340, May 15–19, 2026, Park Avenue Armory, New York. Pace inventory ref: 24143.

For Sale — $6500000

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About this work

Chuck Close, Joel, 2002

This monumental portrait presents a frontal view of a male subject rendered in a distinctive pixelated technique that transforms the image into a dense grid of small circular and geometric forms. The composition employs a restrained palette of whites, grays, blacks, and muted blues, with the face emerging from a dark background through careful modulation of tone and value. The artist's characteristic photorealistic approach to figurative painting is here combined with an almost mechanical precision, where thousands of tiny gestural marks coalesce into a coherent likeness when viewed from a distance. The work exemplifies late twentieth century hyperrealist practice while simultaneously engaging with digital age aesthetics, creating a tension between intimate portraiture and technological mediation. Displayed at monumental scale on canvas, the work demands prolonged engagement from the viewer, revealing the labor intensive process beneath its deceptively smooth final appearance.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 259.1 x 213.4 cm
Year
2002
Seen at
Pace Gallery, New York, USA

Related themes

Representational Art, Twentieth Century, Pixelated Imagery, Photorealism, Technical Precision, Canvas, Monumental Format, Black And White, Modernist Portrait, Gray Palette, Geometric Abstraction, Figurative Art, Oil Painting, Portrait, Male Subject, Tonal Painting, Contemporary Art, Grid Based, Large Scale, Hyperrealism

More works by Chuck Close

Collected by

Alex Capecelatro, Hamilton Selway Gallery