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Studio Life: Rituals, Collections, Tools, and Observations on the Artistic Process
Artist and writer Sarah Trigg embarked on an ambitious field expedition across the United States in 2009, interviewing more than two hundred artists in their studios. Through conversations with a wide spectrum of painters, performance artists, sculptors, photographers, video artists, and others, Trigg set out to investigate contemporary artmaking practices.
The result is Studio Life , a fascinating photographic and written account of visits with one hundred of these artists, including William Wegman, Pat Steir, John Baldessari, Carol Bove, Rashid Johnson, Peter Halley, Fred Tomaselli, Tony Oursler, Jim Shaw, Michelle Grabner, Tauba Auerbach, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Dana Schutz, David Altmejd, and many others.
Trigg asks her subjects to share the stories behind significant objects and working habits, focusing on six mascots, collected objects, rituals, makeshift tools, residue, and habitats. These talismans and behaviors provide a framework for artists to reveal insights into their practices and the nature of the creative life. Intriguing and often humorous anecdotes emerge—of one studio's mysterious sealed vault, another's resident bunny—and countless sources of inspiration are vintage comics, purses, and kitschy figurines; faded yearbooks and treasured cards and letters; and one handwritten reminder to "Quit Feelin' Sorry for Yourself." In addition, a visual index provides an image and biographical information for each artist.
Accessible and relevant for amateur aesthetes and art-world professionals alike, Studio Life offers an insider's view of the artistic process, an alternative approach to understanding art, and a compendium of today's most compelling work.
The result is Studio Life , a fascinating photographic and written account of visits with one hundred of these artists, including William Wegman, Pat Steir, John Baldessari, Carol Bove, Rashid Johnson, Peter Halley, Fred Tomaselli, Tony Oursler, Jim Shaw, Michelle Grabner, Tauba Auerbach, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Dana Schutz, David Altmejd, and many others.
Trigg asks her subjects to share the stories behind significant objects and working habits, focusing on six mascots, collected objects, rituals, makeshift tools, residue, and habitats. These talismans and behaviors provide a framework for artists to reveal insights into their practices and the nature of the creative life. Intriguing and often humorous anecdotes emerge—of one studio's mysterious sealed vault, another's resident bunny—and countless sources of inspiration are vintage comics, purses, and kitschy figurines; faded yearbooks and treasured cards and letters; and one handwritten reminder to "Quit Feelin' Sorry for Yourself." In addition, a visual index provides an image and biographical information for each artist.
Accessible and relevant for amateur aesthetes and art-world professionals alike, Studio Life offers an insider's view of the artistic process, an alternative approach to understanding art, and a compendium of today's most compelling work.
- GenresArtNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 27, 2016
I thought I was going to love this, but it's not what I was hoping for. Trigg's focus is more on studio "mascots" and accumulated collections than establishing a sense of place.
If you want a very brief introduction (2 pages mostly) to a lot of contemporary artists, this may suit you. Note that you'll only see one thumbnail image of one of their actual works though and that will be in the artist list at the back of the book.
If you want to get a sense of how people work in their spaces to create what they do, I think this falls short. She covers some of that in the text, but it has less impact because we as readers aren't seeing completed or in progress works if there were any.
The book chronicles her visits to all of these different artists' studios, and it seems like she had a great time talking to them all and accumulating snapshots of what she found interesting. But her writing style distanced me from that experience rather than inviting me in.
*The version I read had a different cover but the same page count.
If you want a very brief introduction (2 pages mostly) to a lot of contemporary artists, this may suit you. Note that you'll only see one thumbnail image of one of their actual works though and that will be in the artist list at the back of the book.
If you want to get a sense of how people work in their spaces to create what they do, I think this falls short. She covers some of that in the text, but it has less impact because we as readers aren't seeing completed or in progress works if there were any.
The book chronicles her visits to all of these different artists' studios, and it seems like she had a great time talking to them all and accumulating snapshots of what she found interesting. But her writing style distanced me from that experience rather than inviting me in.
*The version I read had a different cover but the same page count.
January 12, 2016
My primary reason for picking up the book was that it promised a glimpse inside the studios of about 100 artists. It did not contain nearly as many images of the studios as I was expecting, but it had many other things to compensate. Artists mascots, rituals, methods of creating, and sources of inspiration were explored to give a well rounded view of the life of the artist in his/her work space. All of this sometimes within the space of a single page, which was startlingly concise if a bit presumptuous regarding the readers knowledge of art history. This book could have easily been twice the size, but for the authors self imposed parameters, so I will settle for looking for the next edition to further satisfy my curiosity.
November 9, 2014
I read this book because it featured a Door County artist I admire, Pamela Murphy, and I was interested to read something of her background and process. The book is not a "how to" - it doesn't talk much about how various artists set up their studios, but rather it is a peek at the spaces lots of different artists work in, and a little about what they do. I was interested.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews