Nat 1971

Chuck Close made "Nat" – a very big painting – with oils on canvas, at a time we don't exactly know. It’s a face built up of what looks like small brushstrokes, tiny marks that, altogether, create this guy's portrait. I can imagine Close thinking through each stroke, each little patch of color, slowly constructing the whole image. The color’s pretty muted, like the tones have been dialed down, except those eyes – they really pop. Look at the way he used those blues and whites, layered so thinly, to make them feel so alive. I can imagine him stepping back, squinting, then going back in, trying to capture something true about this person, Nat. And it makes you wonder about Close's whole project – taking these simple marks and building something so complex. It puts him in conversation with so many artists, from pointillists to pixel pushers, all trying to figure out how to build a world, bit by bit.