NYAB Event - Joe Fig “Inside the Artist’s Studio”

Joe Fig “Inside the Artist’s Studio”

Cristin Tierney Gallery

This event has ended.

Cristin Tierney Gallery presents Inside the Artist’s Studio, an exhibition of new works by Joe Fig. Inside the Artist’s Studio is the artist’s third solo exhibition with the gallery, and it coincides with the publication of his new book by the same name.

When walking through a museum, it is easy to forget that the perfectly hung paintings and well-lit sculptures are products of a long and arduous process. They are the end result of many moments of creative inspiration, but also myriad physical and logistical details. It is these details—aspects of an artist’s daily routine—that have motivated Fig to embark on a life-long exploration of the working lives of his fellow professional artists. Through visits and interviews, Fig meticulously documents his cohorts’ processes. For Inside the Artist’s Studio, he has translated these observations into a new body of paintings, sculptures and drawings representing the studios of some of today’s leading contemporary artists, including Leonardo Drew, Kate Gilmore, Roxy Paine, Will Ryman and Laurie Simmons.

The artworks are both a celebration of the creative process and a revelation regarding the mundane tasks involved in making art. In his sculpture of Kate Gilmore’s studio, Fig shows a ladder leaning against a seemingly commonplace yellow board with several pieces of paper scattered across the floor. Upon closer scrutiny, however, the yellow board reveals deep gouges forming a circle. It is a small detail that escapes immediate notice. But it is also one of the most telling and self-reflexive artifacts in the artist’s studio: on this plywood surface, Gilmore and several other women enacted her performance piece Walk the Walk in Bryant Park. Replete with such details, Fig’s works reward close and prolonged viewing.

In addition to Fig’s exhibition at Cristin Tierney Gallery, this fall he is also releasing Inside the Artist’s Studio, the follow-up to his earlier project, Inside the Painter’s Studio. Inside the Artist’s Studio documents Fig’s interviews with a range of contemporary artists, including Ellen Altfest, Peter Campus, Ellen Carey, Petah Coyne, Adam Cvijanovic, Tara Donovan, Leonardo Drew, Carroll Dunham, Tom Friedman, Kate Gilmore, Red Grooms, Hilary Harkness, Byron Kim, Alois Kronschlaeger, Tom Otterness, Tony Oursler, Roxy Paine, Judy Pfaff, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Will Ryman, Laurie Simmons, Eve Sussman, Philip Taaffe and Janaina Tschäpe, plus exclusive visual documentation of their studios. The book features an essay by Jonathan T. D. Neil, who identifies Fig’s oeuvre as part of a lineage of artwork focusing on the studio visit—a storied ritual in the art world that is prized for the unmediated contact it offers with artists. Similar to Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas and Hans Namuth’s photographs of Jackson Pollock, Fig’s practice—of which this book is an integral part—mines the tradition of the studio visit for new meaning. Princeton Architectural Press will publish the book in early October 2015.