Close’s approach to portraits—both meticulously planned and organic—is at the heart of “Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration,” a traveling exhibition that opens Saturday at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Starting with his very first print (unplanned grids began to appear, inspiring much of his later process) and spanning multiple later works and techniques, the show offers fascinating insight into the development of Close’s art and the ways he uses the confines of the print medium as a basis for creativity rather than treating those boundaries as limitations. Discarded paper clippings from one print become the materials for another. Everyday objects, mundane in nature, provide inspiration for future techniques: Close’s printing tools include the grid casing from a fluorescent light, a jigsaw, and what appears to be a giant cookie cutter.
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