“There’s no question, I had some attitude about the way I wanted to be perceived,” said Chuck Close in discussing his Big Self-Portrait (1967–1968) at the Walker in 1980. “Now it seems very funny wanting to look like this tough guy with a cigarette sticking out of the corner of my mouth and a big, aggressive image of myself and saying to the viewer, ‘Hey, notice my painting, notice me.’ … I think I was trying to find out who I was an artist.”
For more moments from the Walker’s 75 years as a public art center, visit our Walker@75 page.
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