Cindy 2000

Chuck Close made this portrait, ‘Cindy’, and it's like he was building an image out of thin air. It feels like a slow burn, each freckle, each line, a deliberate mark in the gradual construction of a face. I can only imagine Chuck, squinting, head cocked to one side, totally absorbed in the minutiae. What’s on his mind? Is he thinking about Cindy, the model? Or is it all about the process? The push and pull of tones, the texture of the surface, the challenge of making a face emerge from a flat plane? It’s so simple. A photograph, a face, grey scale, and yet it captures an essence, a presence. You can almost feel the weight of Cindy’s gaze. It reminds me of other portrait painters, those who dared to confront the human condition head-on. It’s like we're all swimming in the same art historical soup, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off each other's ideas. Painting, like life, is a conversation. It's about seeing and feeling. And maybe, just maybe, understanding.