The day I moved to NYC I met Chuck Close

The day I moved to NYC I met Chuck Close who is a remarkable human being and artist. He sufferers from Heprosopagnosia, more commonly known as face blindness, he jokes that is why he is so nice to everyone. His propensity to paint and study faces is driven by his disability. He recognizes his students by their paintings and not their faces. He lost his father at a young age and says that was good preparation for later in life when he became disabled because he knew that even after suffering a tragic loss he would find happiness again. I shared with him an image of a painting of mine and told him I could empathize as I too lost my dad at a young age and suffered from physical illness. He assured me physical constraints as well as self made constraints are always good for your art, and I replied "Good because I just signed a lease on less than 200 square feet!" (image: Carrie Able “Blue”, oil on linen, 2007)