For more than forty years, Chuck Close has explored the art of printmaking in his continuing investigation into the principles of perception. Celebrated as a painter and photographer, he has mastered the unique artistic language of printmaking, having done editions in etching, aquatint, lithography, direct gravure, silkscreen, traditional Japanese woodcut, and reduction linocut. Close has said that any innovation that is evident in his painting is a direct result of something that happened in the course of making a print.

Currently on view at Pace Prints is a self-portrait woodblock print that pushes the boundaries of this relief printing method. Self-Portrait, 2015, jointly conceived by Chuck Close and the master printer Karl Hecksher, is presented along with eight of the twenty-four wood blocks used to edition the 86-color print, along with progressive proofs that show the ways in which layers of ink build up to form the finished print (below).

Close often works with self-portraits and portraits of his friends and family. In his work, the topology of the human face becomes a series of gridded abstractions that, when assembled in the eye of the viewer, create an imagistic whole. Master printer Hecksher was tasked with the responsibility of carving woodblocks that would contain the gestural spirit of Close’s painted marks and be faithful to Close’s color palette. This was a lengthy and complicated process requiring experimentation and multiple trips to Chuck’s studio for color corrections. While the production of a painting can occupy Close for many months, it is not unusual for one print to take more up to four years to complete, as did the woodblock print currently on view at Pace Prints.

Chuck Close, Self-Portrait, 2015, Print & Process has been extended through April 15. Pace Prints, 521 West 26^th Street, Third Floor, NY, NY Info