A Couple of Ways of Doing Something by Chuck Close

Venue:
Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Artist:
Chuck Close.

Exhibition description:
The book A Couple of Ways of Doing Something by Chuck Close was presented at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on June 11, 2003. It was published by Art of This Century in collaboration with Harry Jancovici. The book comprises of a series of twenty portraits of the artist’s friends. Each portrait is accompanied by a poem written by Robert Holman as a musing on friendship. This book offers detailed images of artists including Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Terry Winters, and James Turrell, among others, as well as cultural figures such as composer Philip Glass and playwright Robert Wilson. A touching evocation of the relationships among friends, this book represents both an emblematic example of Close’s contemporary practice as well as a long-standing desire on Close’s part to make a book. While much of Close’s work is celebrated for its large format, these images retain the vertiginous up-close-and-personal feel of the large paintings, while having an intimacy that is particular to the daguerreotype and book form.

An edition of seventy-five signed and numbered books was produced, with twenty artists proofs and one proof specifically for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Each cloth-bound book consists of twenty portraits, each accompanied by a poem written by Holman and bound in series of five in four separate folders, an original signed print of the artist’s self-portrait, and prints of the front and back of the artist’s hands.

Partnerships:
Organized by Sandro Rumney and Art of This Century, in collaboration with Harry Jancovici.