Detail of Lorna by Chuck Close courtesy of The Pace Gallery

This monday Chuck Close unveiled four taxi-top billboards: two featuring his artwork and two featuring the work of artist Kehinde Wiley in Times Square Plaza, between 46th and 47th Street, in New York City. The billboards feature details from two of Close’s black and white photographs, Lorna (2006) and Lucas (1987), portraits of the artists Lorna Simpson and Lucas Samaras, and two paintings by Wiley, The Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia and Femme Piquee Par Un Serpent.

The works are part of an exhibition entitled ART ADDS—a second year collaboration between Show Media and Art Production Fund to bring public art to the streets of New York.
Throughout the month of January, 500 taxi tops donated by Show Media will display the works of art instead of advertisements. The ART ADDS taxis will be seen by over 5 million New Yorkers everyday, and on constant display 24/7, they will reach people of all ages, races, and backgrounds.
Chuck Close is an American artist internationally recognized for redefining modern portraiture and re-establishing the human face as a compelling subject for contemporary art. He first gained fame over four decades ago for his photorealistic paintings of fellow artists, family members, and friends.
Kehinde Wiley, a New York based painter from Los Angeles, is widely known for juxtaposing contemporary and traditional art influences in his work. By depicting men from a variety of cultures and nationalities in decorative French Rococo, posing in the powerful, spiritual manner of Renaissance masters such as Titian, he highlights the prejudices and idiosyncrasies of our past and poses questions for our present.

Published 11.01.2011