What's in a face?
A freewrite on what it means to portray the human face from when I saw a Chuck Close exhibit many years ago.
“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare had his Juliet ask this question to a dark Verona sky because she didn’t understand how her Capulet name could be more consequential than her actual self. In contrast, artists who paint human selves should expect a viewer that asks an entirely different question. If confronted with the portrait of a person, we, the audience, should ask, “What’s in a face?”
Art, especially modern art, comes in many different forms, but the fact of the matter is that portraiture remains a tricky business. The human face is perhaps the most reproduced image in the world. Don’t believe me? Just google “portrait.” Our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and face are the most common subjects in this contemporary world, and yet skilled artists still tackle its monotony to create the spectacular.
Shuffle through famous portraits: “Mona Lisa,” Rembrandt’s self-portraits, Vincent Van Gogh, and then let’s ask our question of “Lucas”, a portrait by Chuck Close.
“What’s in a face?”
The intensity of both gaze and face strike first like an electric jolt. Despite the black and white monotony, there is a lot of energy in this portrait; it’s a stationary subject but this face is filled with movement. Everything seems to rise: the artist’s pencil strokes, the textured paper, “Lucas”’s hair, and especially our eyes. Why? Because the gaze is so direct and we need to focus on another part of the face – eyes, ears, nose, to comfortably take in the entire portrait. Also, because the canvas is quite large, a viewer might need to step back and look up to take the entire face in. In this respect, Close has not made a tame subject; instead he has reinvigorated the human face and put life into the flat world of a blank, paper canvas.
Birthday parties, graduation day, family events, holiday cards and Myspace are all examples of how modern society utilizes the idea of a portrait; they’re all generally pleasant. But a close look at Close’s work reveals how a large, painterly style to the human anatomy can endow new life and energy.
So what exactly then is in this portrait’s face? Look into his eyes and see who can hold their gaze the longest. My guess is that it’s “Lucas”.
Author’s Note: There are lots of versions of the “Lucas” portrait, and the one I was looking at was not in color and done in pencil—so way more painterly. Here’s another version in oil on canvas: http://chuckclose.com/work129.html.