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Ellen Jones Pryor: (615) 243-1311, ”, ”
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Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration
Opens June 26, 2009 at Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Ingram Gallery Exhibition Explores Invention and Technique
NASHVILLE, TENN. – (May 15, 2009) – The work of Chuck Close, renowned as one of America’s foremost artists in any medium, will be featured in Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration, opening in the Frist Center for the Visual Arts’ Ingram Gallery June 26, 2009. The exhibition will remain on view through the summer and will close Sept. 13, 2009.
The exhibition, which includes more than 130 works, explores Close’s continuing investigation into the relationship between artistic process, vision and creativity. On view in this comprehensive survey will be prints that are widely regarded as masterworks of contemporary printmaking, as seen in such techniques as aquatint, lithography, pulp-paper multiples, direct gravure, silk screen, traditional Japanese woodcut and reduction linocut.
Close is internationally renowned for creating paintings and prints on the subject of the human face. By transferring gridded sections of a photograph square by square onto the canvas or paper, he explores the relationships between the whole and its parts. Each tiny square bears an abstract mark, which functions as an expression in its own right; when seen from a distance, these parts coalesce into a shimmering whole. This transformation emphasizes the gravitas and power of the carefully observed human face.
“Inviting feelings of pleasure and awe, works in this exhibition convey the sheer bravura of an extraordinary artist and human being, one who uses art to attain a deep understanding of the nature of visual experience,” said Frist Center Chief Curator Mark Scala in describing the artist and the exhibition.
Close began printmaking as a serious part of his artistic career in 1972. This survey shows his remarkable technical skill and the wide range of expressions that arise from his explorations of extreme scale, abstract mark making, and remarkably intricate combinations of color.
Close’s paintings are the result of laborious and time-consuming effort. While they often take months to complete, his prints may take as many as two years to complete. Collaborating with some of the world’s finest printers, the artist takes an interactive, “hands on” approach to the creation of his prints, carving linoleum blocks, drawing on and applying acid to his etching plates and personally directing the intricate handwork involved in the creation of the prints. The exhibition also celebrates his collaborators, the master printers into whose hands Close commits and entrusts his work.
The exhibition is divided into broad categories. The first gallery introduces visitors to the basic principles of printmaking and includes Close’s earliest prints, which set the tone for the collaborative and experimental approach that characterizes his career. As visitors move through the exhibition, they will see how Close has used the portrait as a “constant” in his career; one gallery features only self-portraits, while others focus on images of his art world contemporaries such as Philip Glass—a favorite subject for more than 30 years—Alex Katz, John Chamberlain and Lucas Samaras. These famous artists are portrayed in a range of mediums, colors and types of marks that create an astonishing encyclopedia of visual effects. Additional galleries explore Close’s pulp-paper works, various silk screen techniques and explore his work with master printmakers.
Exhibition Sponsors
The HCA Foundation on behalf of HCA and the TriStar Family of Hospitals is the exhibition’s Platinum Sponsor.
Frist Center Exhibition-Related Programs
• The Martin ArtQuest Gallery will connect with one printmaking technique by giving visitors the opportunity to create a fingerprint portrait that includes a range of values and a reference to facial proportions. The medium is washable ink.
• Tuesday, May 5–Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009
New Edition: College Printmakers
The work of printmakers at five area colleges and universities will be featured outside the Martin ArtQuest Gallery on the Upper Level of the Frist Center in a series of rotating presentations.
New Edition Schedule:
Tue., May 5–Sun., May 31: Austin Peay State University
Tue., June 2–Sun., July 5: Belmont University
Tues., July 7–Sun., Aug. 2: Middle Tennessee State University
Tue., Aug. 4–Sun., Aug. 30: Vanderbilt University
Tue., Sept. 1–Sun., Oct. 4: Watkins College of Art and Design
• Friday, July 17, 2009
ARTini: Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration
7:00 p.m.
Meet at the Information Desk
Free with purchase of gallery admission
Join Shaun Giles, associate educator for outreach, as he leads an informal conversation about one or two works of art in this exhibition. Complete your evening by relaxing in the Grand Lobby with beverages from the cash bar or café and visiting with friends.
• Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009
Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009
Adult Workshop: Printmaking
Saturday: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.; Sunday: 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Frist Center Studios
$50 members; $60 non-members; cost includes all supplies and gallery admission.
Call 615.744.3247 to register.
Mary Pat Tuner, a Nashville-based artist and visual arts instructor at Lipscomb and Belmont Universities, will lead this two-day workshop in conjunction with the exhibition Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration. Participants will first tour the exhibition and discuss some of the techniques Chuck Close uses to create his prints. Participants will then move to the Frist Center studios where the discussion will continue while learning how to make linoleum block relief prints.
• Friday, Aug. 7, 2009
Films at the Frist: Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
6:30 p.m.
Auditorium
Free
Join us at the Frist Center for a night of music, art, and film as the Frist Center collaborates with the Nashville Opera and the Nashville Film Festival.
Get a sneak peek into the opera’s upcoming season as you listen to soprano Sabrina Warren, accompanied by Amy Tate Williams, sing an excerpt from composer
Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Gain insight into the connections between Glass and visual artist Chuck Close, whose images of Glass, are among those included in the Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration exhibition. Top off your evening with the 2007 documentary Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts, courtesy of the Nashville Film Festival.
• Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
Gallery Talk: Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration
7:00 p.m.
Meet at the Information Desk
Free with purchase of gallery admission
Frist Center Chief Curator Mark Scala will lead a tour of this exhibition.
• Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009
Curator’s Perspective: Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration
6:30 p.m.
Auditorium
Free
Join Terrie Sultan, director of the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York, and curator of Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration, for a lecture about the way Chuck Close developed his unique approach to printmaking. With illustrations, behind-the-scenes photographs, and personal anecdotes, Sultan will show how Close’s prints relate to and inform his painting practice and will also discuss the reason he says “problem solving is over-rated.”
• Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
Teen Workshop: Printmaking
10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Frist Center Studios
$40 members; $50 non-members; cost includes all supplies and gallery admission.
Call 615.744.3247 to register.
Mary Pat Tuner, a Nashville-based artist and visual arts instructor at Lipscomb and Belmont Universities, will lead this one-day workshop in conjunction with the exhibition Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration. Participants will first tour the exhibition and discuss some of the techniques Chuck Close uses to create his prints. After, they will move to the Frist Center studios where they will create their own linoleum block relief prints.
Exhibition Credits
Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration was organized by Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston. The exhibition and publication have been generously underwritten by the Neuberger Berman Foundation. Additional support was made possible by the Lannan Foundation, Jon and Mary Shirley, The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation and Houston Endowment Inc., Jonathan and Marita Fairbanks, Dorene and Frank Herzog, Andrew and Gretchen McFarland, Carey Shuart, The Wortham Foundation, Inc., Karen and Eric Pulaski, Suzanne Slesin and Michael Steinberg and Texas Commission on the Arts.
About the Frist Center
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., is an art exhibition center dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, regional, U.S. and international sources in a program of changing exhibitions. The Frist Center’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery features 21 interactive stations relating to Frist Center exhibitions. Gallery admission to the Frist Center is free for visitors 18 and under and to Frist Center members. Frist Center admission is $8.50 for adults, $7.50 for seniors and military, and $6.50 for college students with ID. Thursday and Friday evenings, 5:00 – 9:00 p.m., admission is free for college students with a valid college ID. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more with advance reservation by calling (615) 744-3246. The Frist Center is open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; and Sundays, 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., with the Café opening at noon. Additional information is available by calling (615) 244-3340 or by visiting our Web site at http://www.fristcenter.org.
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