Recap: Chuck Close Shows Mosaic-Like Portraits at the Hermitage, Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

Artist Chuck Close arrives to the Museum of Modern Art's 39th annual Party in the Garden in New York on May 15, 2007.
Photographer: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg News

According to Bloomberg News Chuck Close must savor a challenge. The U.S. artist is severely handicapped, yet he made it to St. Petersburg for the opening of an exhibition of his recent portraits at the Hermitage museum.

The show, organized jointly with the London-based gallery White Cube, features a self-portrait, depictions of Close's family members and one of former U.S. President Bill Clinton that was made for the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

These portraits, each over two meters in height, were made in either 2006 or 2007. Each is an oil on canvas made using Close's trademark experiment with visual effects and illusion: He patches together small squares of abstract design that form a larger picture, often in gray tones.

Close, 67, has been confined to a wheelchair since 1988 when a blood clot in his spine left him paralyzed. At first he lost use of both his legs and arms, and Close said he thought he would use his teeth to paint. He slowly regained partial use of his hands, and adapted a paint brush to accommodate his disability.

Varoli: Why do you paint portraits?

Close: These faces, these portraits are like landscapes. Remember ``Gulliver's Travels,'' and the Lilliputians? They didn't know that they were walking on his face. They couldn't see his face. With these portraits you have an experience like the Lilliputians, crawling on the face, and I am guiding the viewer on a journey to a place they've never been to before.

Small Abstracts

Varoli: Would you sometimes like to paint abstract subjects, and use bright colors?

Close: No. But then again, each of my portraits is made of small abstract works that are arranged to create the portraits you see.

Varoli: To what extent is your physical condition a hurdle, and to what extent can it inspire you?

Close: It's what it is. You got to play the hand you're dealt. I'd rather not be in this situation, but there's always a way to make a winning hand out of a losing hand. And vice versa. There are people who are dealt a winning hand and they end up losing it. I'm lucky that I can continue to do what I love.

Varoli: What are some of your latest or coming works?

Close: I just painted the artist James Siena; it hasn't been displayed yet.

Varoli: Do you collect art?

Close: Not really. I'm not an acquisitive person.