Joe Fig
I have always found visiting artist’s studios inspiring and enlightening. I love to see how other artists work. And so does Joe Fig. He makes paintings, prints, and photos of painters and their studios. And models. He makes fantastic scale models of artists in their studios.
I first saw his work in the back room of a gallery in Boston. I don’t remember which gallery and how I was let into the back room, it must have been a field trip, but it was absolutely fantastic. I’m fairly sure that it was this one:
Here is the interior:
It was so difficult to get a good look inside the model. You had to crane you neck and stand on tiptoes to get a look in the sky lights and barn door. Now, I have my doubts about the art as art content of this work. I always feel like it could be more, that it could do more, and there is more to care about than art and the creation there of. But as a curious person, I enjoy to see the charting of different modes of working. And as an anal retentive person, I adore the painstaking reproduction. It’s like going to see the displays at the Natural History Museums, but for artists. Fig recreates contemporary and historical studios, though he seems to stay within the era of photographic documentation. There is a
Van Gough, based on the painting of the artist’s room at Arles, and it feels gimmicky. So it’s good that Fig sticks with the photos.
Dana Schutz’s workspace:
Fig has also written a book about artists in their studios entitled Inside the Painter’s Studio. He interviews artists, from Chuck Close to Ryan McGinness, about their process and photographs their studios. Much like the similarly named Inside the Actor’s Studio, this book comes across as a bit dry and self serving to those involved, but is both informative and something of an indulgence to people who love the craft being discussed. I was just thumbing through it at the New Museum, and now I know what I’ll be reading after I finish Smiley’s People (by John le Carre. Inventor of the spy genre. As if you didn’t know)
All images are poached from joefig.com, copyright Joe Fig.