Chuck Close has claimed the human face as his sole terrain. We follow the rhythms of a painting's life from Polaroid self-portrait, through 82 days of the creative process right up to the last stroke (including exhilarating images shot from the artist's brush).
A parallel portrait of this 'master of the portrait' evolves through interviews with many of his friends and collaborators. For example, Philip Glass insists that Close is not a portraitist. He portrays him as the artist who introduced the “concept of process” into art. Ingeniously, the film reveals the meticulous evolution of a self portrait through paint and in personal interviews, allowing us to understand the enormous impact that the art of Chuck Close had on the artists of his generation.
“Whatever the method, from airbrushing to meticulous thumb-printing, Close's vision remains remarkably, inventively consistent, in and out of a wheelchair.” (Film Forum, New York).
After the directress Marion Cajori of the film died in 2006, independent filmmaker Ken Kobland (who has worked with the Wooster Group for many years) completed the editing of this magnificent documentary. With Brice Marden, Philip Glass, Robert Rauschenberg, Elizabeth Murray, Kiki Smith and many others.