Chuck Close : Red, Yellow, and Blue: The Last Paintings
Cover of Chuck Close: Red, Yellow, and Blue.The Last Paintings. 2024. ©Pace Gallery
Since the 1970s, Chuck Close has been known for his innovative approach to conceptual portraiture, systematically transposing his subjects’ likenesses from photographs into gridded paintings.
Published on the occasion of Pace Gallery's first exhibition of his work since the artist's death in 2021, Chuck Close: Red, Yellow, and Blue—The Last Paintings spotlights Close's final body of paintings, which employ a palette of only three colors. Layering transparent glazes of red, yellow, and blue paint, Close created an effect of abstract likeness entirely different from that of his previous work.
Chuck Close: Red, Yellow, and Blue.The Last Paintings. 2024. ©Pace Gallery
Alongside studio photography and images of Close's mosaic works, this volume features a previously unpublished 2018 interview between Close and Cindy Sherman—originally commissioned by The Brooklyn Rail—as well as a new critical essay by Carter Ratcliff, which considers Close’s final works in depth. These texts, along with an introduction by Phong Bui, appear alongside an essay by Barbara Knappmeyer that examines the artist’s renderings of the face in the context of facial recognition technology.
Chuck Close: Red, Yellow, and Blue.The Last Paintings. 2024. ©Pace Gallery
PUBLICATION DETAILS
Text by Phong Bui, Carter Ratcliff, Barbara Knappmeyer.
Conversation with Cindy Sherman.
Design by Tomo Makiura and Uli Monch
2024
Softcover
88 pages
11 ¾ x 14 ¼ in.
Chuck Close: Red, Yellow, and Blue.The Last Paintings. 2024. ©Pace Gallery
Pace is a leading international art gallery representing some of the most influential contemporary artists and estates from the past century, holding decades-long relationships with Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Barbara Hepworth, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, and Mark Rothko. Pace enjoys a unique U.S. heritage spanning East and West coasts through its early support of artists central to the Abstract Expressionist and Light and Space movements.
Since its founding by Arne Glimcher in 1960, Pace has developed a distinguished legacy as an artist-first gallery that mounts seminal historical and contemporary exhibitions. Under the current leadership of CEO Marc Glimcher, Pace continues to support its artists and share their visionary work with audiences worldwide by remaining at the forefront of innovation. Now in its seventh decade, the gallery advances its mission through a robust global program— comprising exhibitions, artist projects, public installations, institutional collaborations, performances, and interdisciplinary projects. Pace has a legacy in art bookmaking and has published over five hundred titles in close collaboration with artists, with a focus on original scholarship and on introducing new voices to the art historical canon.
Today, Pace has seven locations worldwide, including European footholds in London and Geneva as well as Berlin, where the gallery established an office in 2023. Pace maintains two galleries in New York—its headquarters at 540 West 25th Street, which welcomed almost 120,000 visitors and programmed 20 shows in its first six months, and an adjacent 8,000 sq. ft. exhibition space at 510 West 25th Street. Pace’s long and pioneering history in California includes a gallery in Palo Alto, which was open from 2016 to 2022. Pace’s engagement with Silicon Valley’s technology industry has had a lasting impact on the gallery at a global level, accelerating its initiatives connecting art and technology as well as its work with experiential artists. Pace consolidated its West Coast activity through its flagship in Los Angeles, which opened in 2022. Pace was one of the first international galleries to establish outposts in Asia, where it operates permanent gallery spaces in Hong Kong and Seoul, along with an office and viewing room in Beijing. In spring 2024, Pace will open its first gallery space in Japan in Tokyo’s new Azabudai Hills development.
The book can be ordered here, and the exhibition information can be found here. For more information about other titles from Pace Publishing, visit here; please visit the Pace Gallery’s website here for more information about past, current, and future exhibits. Pace Gallery can be found on Instagram and Artsy, too.
