BACK STORY Chuck Close spent the early part of his career painting faces so realistic they looked like photographs. Using massive canvases and tiny brushes, he recreated every pore, wrinkle, and hair with obsessive precision. But at the height of his career, Close suffered a spinal condition that left him almost entirely paralyzed. Everything changed—but he didn’t stop painting. He adapted. Working from a motorized wheelchair, he strapped a brush to his wrist and began building portraits using a