Chuck Close's meticulous approach to representation has redefined portraiture over the last four decades, and has repeatedly returned to the self-portrait as a subject. With his exclusive focus on the face, Close constantly reinvents the formal composition inherent in portraiture–a multiplicity of shapes, colors, and techniques are often marshaled together by the artist to create an aggregate image of his subject. His seemingly endless compositional variations result from his use of a grid as a system for simultaneously rendering the overall likeness of his subjects while creating abstraction in the detail of his paintings.