I never said the camera was truth. It is, however, a more accurate and more objective way of seeing.
Chuck CloseRead
Losing my father at a tender age was extremely important in being able to accept what happened to me later when I became a quadriplegic.
Interpretation
The loss of a parent at a young age prepares one for future challenges by fostering resilience.
In this quote, Chuck Close reflects on how the early loss of his father shaped his ability to cope with the immense challenges he faced later in life as a quadriplegic. This experience taught him the importance of acceptance and resilience, suggesting that our early hardships can prepare us to face future obstacles with a stronger mindset.
In practice
Sharing this quote during a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
I never said the camera was truth. It is, however, a more accurate and more objective way of seeing.
A photograph doesn't gain weight or lose weight, or change from being happy to being sad. It's frozen. You can use it, then recycle it.
The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.
Neurologically, I'm a quadriplegic, so virtually everything about my work has been driven by my learning disabilities, which are quite severe, and my lack of facial recognition, which I'm sure is what drove me to paint portraits in the first place.
Part of the joy of looking at art is getting in sync in some ways with the decision-making process that the artist used and the record that's embedded in the work.
All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.
The primary thing I should do, apart from being a good husband, brother, son, and friend, is to be a citizen activist. But I'm afraid it takes away from the writing. Not that anything depends on whether I put an essay in 'The Nation' or not. But you want to participate.
We may stand, if only on one leg, or at least be left still upon our knees.
People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
The constitution does not recognize different classes of citizenship based on time spent living in the country. I am a citizen, with the same rights as your son, or you. As a citizen, and as a student, I am protesting the tone of this lesson as racist, intolerant, and xenophobic.
Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight.
I'm so proud that now you can exist as a gay man and be an Olympian, and it can be beneficial rather than negative. So it's amazing. And I just think I feel so liberated now that I've been out of the closet for a while, and so I'm free in that I just get to be myself, speak freely, act freely, and I think that I am competing confidently.
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