This self-portrait by American artist, Chuck Close, can be a bit disorienting. It can cause us to step/lean back to better understand this image and the life story of this artist can help also. Chuck Close is a major contemporary artist whose work graces the walls of many places from prominent museums to a New York City subway tunnel. Here is his story.

Chuck Close was born in 1940. He suffered undiagnosed dyslexia as a child and received no encouragement or therapies. He struggled in school and found ways to cope as a child alone in a misunderstanding world. His father died when he was 11 which he names as the first time art saved him. He pursued art and his breakthrough work, also a self-portrait, came in 1968. Just twenty years later in 1988 at age 48 Close suffered a major stroke that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He fought back to overcome the career-ending challenges this presented. He gained movement, found a helpful hand brace, and art saved him a second time.

Oh and one more thing – Chuck Close suffers from a condition called prosopagnosia or face blindness. He cannot recognize others solely by looking at their faces.  Many believe this is the possible gift behind his unique and sought after work.

This painting and this story can cause us to step back to a place of profound gratitude for this artist’s life and our own. Heartbreak laces the small shapes of this work that Close knits into a face staring a challenge to each of us. This distorted, clear gaze seems a call to the hard work of redemption we all face in some guise. Can we meet the moment? Can we find the work around? Can we trust the love of God, the gritty love of loss and something new?

Let’s all step back and realize that we can. Each of us can with God’s help.

Amen.

In hope and faith,

Sandy Prouty

Minister of Children and Families

Montview Church