Scribble Book | Chuck Close, Nina Holland

Chuck Close immediately liked the idea of a book without words. As a child, his severe dyslexia stood in the way of reading, making images all the more important. To this day, he remembers a visual encyclopedia from his early years and the feeling of being overtaken by the intensity of its pictures. The idea was also compatible with Close’s ongoing interest in revealing the process of his work, which he accomplishes largely through visual presentation, using very few words, if any. Scribble Book: Self Portrait is a self-portrait that emerges step-by-step out of the printing process, one plate and one color at a time. The viewer follows a series of 9 individual plate proofs along with a corresponding series of 9 progressive proofs. By comparing the plate proofs against the progressive proofs, the viewer may ascertain not only the effect as one color is added to another to create the final 9-color etching, but also the compositional decisions and careful modifications made by Close at each stage of the project.