Chuck Close

In my art, I deconstruct and then I reconstruct, so visual perception is one of my primary interests.

I knew from the age of five what I wanted to do. The one thing I could do was draw. I couldn't draw that much better than some of the other kids, but I cared more and I wanted it badly.

A photograph doesn't gain weight or lose weight, or change from being happy to being sad. It's frozen. You can use it, then recycle it.

Losing my father at a tender age was extremely important in being able to accept what happened to me later when I became a quadriplegic.

Most people are good at too many things. And when you say someone is focused, more often than not what you actually mean is they're very narrow.

I think women realise that I love women, and very often women seem to love me.

Painting is the most magical of mediums. The transcendence is truly amazing to me every time I go to a museum and I see how somebody figured another way to rub colored dirt on a flat surface and make space where there is no space or make you think of a life experience.

A face is a road map of someone's life. Without any need to amplify that or draw attention to it, there's a great deal that's communicated about who this person is and what their life experiences have been.

I'm plagued with indecision in my life. I can't figure out what to order in a restaurant.

What difference does it make whether you're looking at a photograph or looking at a still life in front of you? You still have to look.

I always thought that one of the reasons why a painter likes especially to have other painters look at his or her work is the shared experience of having pushed paint around.

Photography is the easiest medium with which to be merely competent. Almost anybody can be competent. It's the hardest medium in which to have some sort of personal vision and to have a signature style.