CHUCK CLOSE
A Couple of Ways of Doing Something
January 20 - February 13, 2004
This was the premier exhibition of A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, a book composed of twenty portraits by artist Chuck Close and twenty poems by New York School poet Bob Holman.
In 1999, Chuck Close began working with Jerry Spagnoli in his New York studio and taking photographs using the daguerreotype process. Over the next two years he photographed Cindy Sherman, James Turrell, Gregory Crewdson, Elizabeth Murray, Kiki Smith, Ellen Gallagher, James Siena, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Cecily Brown, Lyle Ashton-Harris, Bob Holman, Carroll Dunham, Lisa Yuskavage, Andres Serrano, Elizabeth Peyton, Terry Winters, Lorna Simpson, Robert Wilson and himself for this book. Bob Holman’s lyrical praise poems, written between 2001 and 2003, accompany Close’s photographs. Holman also recorded a spoken word version of each poem at Village Digital in New York City, and a compact disk with these recordings is included with each book.
A Couple of Ways of Doing Something was produced in an edition of 75 signed and numbered copies, with 20 artist proofs, 8 collaborator proofs and 8 hors de commerce proofs. An enclosed single self-portrait of the artists is signed and designated with a corresponding roman numeral.
American artist Chuck Close has been a leading figure in contemporary art since the early 1970s. Close’s work has radically changed the definition of modern portraiture, and has been the subject of major exhibitions at MOMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the American Academy in Rome.
Bob Holman, dubbed a member of the "Poetry Pantheon" by the New York Times Magazine, is a major figure in American poetry. He has published, recorded, and performed widely, and he produced a PBS series, The United States of Poetry. He is currently the proprietor of The Bowery Poetry Club.
