Art on the Second Avenue Subway New york city, part 2

Continuing our ride on the Second Avenue Subway, Chuck Close takes residence at 86th Street and really owns the space.

Chuck Close has been severely paralized since 1988 due to the rupture of a spinal artery but he continues to work on monumental and impressive scales despite being confined to a wheelchair. His use of different materials, colors, from small mosaic to large tiles gives an incredible rendering to his portraits of artists and self-portraits throughout the subway station.

Phil, composer Philip Glass, one of Chuck Close early subjects since 1969, revisited here with large tiles.

An artist I adore for her incredible ability to transform and photograph herself. Here she is pixelated, a beautiful metaphor for the countless identities she manages to adopt in her own work : Cindy Sherman...resolving with distance.

Artist Cecily Brown in round and split mosaics...

Artist Kara Walker under the microscope...

Lou Reed in large square tiles

Chuck Close and his self-portraits. He's truly digging deep into the stuff he is made off, repeatedly.

Self-portrait (Yellow Raincoat)

The tiniest mosaics...searching himself...

And with colors, play on shapes and sizes.

Sienna, an old girlfriend...

Artist Zhang Huan whose work I viewed at The Photography Show. And in a sense, some of the small tiles used by Chuck Close are like calligraphic pieces to resolve an entire face.

Alex Katz...

The one that captivated me most... Chuck Close getting under Alex Katz' skin, totally on the opposite end of the spectrum when compared with Katz' own art in which he uses smooth and simplified colors.

Last stop on this art ride along Second Avenue, at 96th Street, Sarah Sze's Blueprint engulfs the entire station.

A genuine sensation that the walls push you in further as papers seem to fly around you...

Overwhelming movement and visual compression until you make everything subside by walking in the opposite direction.

Created By
Ingrid Westlake
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Credits:

© 2017 Ingrid Westlake

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