Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
living
with Art
By Stacey Goergen Photography by Oberto Gili
and Amanda BenchLey Foreword by Robert Storr
artists
living
with Art
auerbach
Tauba Auerbach
14
15
Tauba Auerbach
18
Francesco
19
Clemente
Jean-Michel Basquiats
portrait of Francesco
Clemente, a Christmas
gift from Basquiat,
hangs in his dining area.
The works I make are related to the vast field metropolis. His admiration extends so far rebels have a sense of humor, thats even better.
of emotions and desires that finds no suitable that, while in India, he often employs local When they manage to be in and out at the
expression in the bland and sentimental lan- artisans to assist with some of his larger-scale same time, they show that they dont take
guage of contemporary life, says Francesco and installation pieces. themselves too seriously. Clemente found
Clemente as he walks around his Greenwich Clemente has referred to Cy Twombly and the Fuseli through a London antiquarian, and
Village townhouse, painted in the warm colors Joseph Beuys as his patron saints. In fact, on only learned later that it had been officially
of Tuscany. Both the townhouse and his paint- a Frank Lloyd Wright coffee table in his town- lost since 1905.
ing studio, formerly his home, are filled with house is a two-part cast piece by Beuys, while Large wooden sculptures from the South
art and objects that have a similar sense of mys- Twomblys green scribbles hang over the fire- Pacific and more pieces of Indian statuary
ticism: ceremonial pieces and drawings from place in his dining room. Clemente humbly and objects for worship add to the aura of soul-
India, paintings by friends like Jean-Michel recalls how he used to see Twombly in Rome: fulness and spirituality emanating throughout
Basquiat, and sculpture from Oceania. I was an aspiring young artist with not much the Clemente home. The enormous carved,
I dont think I am a collector, he says. to show. I didnt want anyone to know me, wooden, figure-like sculpture looming over
In the first half of my life I had no money, especially someone I admired so much. He the living room is in actuality a drum from the
so I made work inspired by all the things I did actually meet Beuys, whom he describes as South Pacific. Clemente explains that
couldnt buy, recounting how he and his wife, a shaman, adding that he still remembers every the drum, which his children used to call
Alba, lived in the empty studio without even word of their conversations. When asked why Grandpa when they were young, is a ritual
a bed. In the second half of my life I bought these two seemingly dissimilar artists are so image representing the voice, the last trace
things no one wanted almost out of a sense meaningful to him, Clemente matter-of-factly of the body as it dies. Objects and friends are
of duty and respect. One forgets that Twombly, replies: Twombly and Beuys talked about his- really how I get my education, says Clemente.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Mollino were, for some tory but found a way to make the past a living I have no interest in history; I am interested
stretch of time, completely overlooked. thing. In particular, Clemente admires the in human experience.
Originally part of the neo-expressionist way both artists create surfaces that appear
group that emerged in the 1980s, Clemente to be weathered by time, but alive with the
is best known for his self-portraits and his seduction of the present.
dreamlike images that showcase the human In the 1980s, Clementes studio was 20
body, often produced in large-scale watercol- across the street from Jean-Michel Basquiats 21
ors. Though born in Italy, he first started workspace, and as Clemente puts it, we both
exploring Eastern spiritual and intellectual disliked the same things and easily became
traditions in the mid-1970s, during an exten- friends. In fact, Clemente says that the paint-
sive and profoundly influential stay in India, ing Flats Fix (1981), which now lives in his stu-
a country where he often returns. Today, he dio, was the first canvas Basquiat ever painted.
retains a warehouse of Indian religious imple- One Christmas, the Clemente family and
ments and ritual objects, such as incense Basquiat were at the home of their mutual gal-
burners in the shape of heads and statuaries, lerist, Bruno Bischofberger, in Switzerland,
some of which have found their way to his and Basquiat gave out paintings to everyone
Francesco Clemente at studio, where they are displayed on top of vari- in the house, even the children. The gift for
his studio with his 2013 ous ornamental trunks as if on altars. These Clemente was the characteristic Basquiat
painting Tree of Life.
sacred objects, as he explains, are meant to portrait that now hangs in his dining room,
remind us of the fundamentals of experience, among furniture designed by Ettore Sottsass.
namely life and death, which he compares Though they were friends, Clemente main-
to similar themes in his own work. tains that it is also the literary aspect of
When it comes to the Indian pieces, Basquiats work that appeals to him. Basquiat
Clemente is particularly interested in the is the heir on one end of the great literary tradi-
symbiotic and creative relationship between tion of the Caribbean, and on the other end is
the countrys many diverse regions: The the Beat poets who continue to inspire me.
cultural wealth of India has been generated Clemente is proud of what he calls the
for millennia by the dialogue and the attrition somewhat out of fashion artists that also
between urban and rural India. He has a adorn his townhouse, alongside works by more
vast collection of richly colored, naturalistic contemporary artists like Keith Haring and
flora and fauna drawings of artists from both Eric Fischl. These include Henry Fuseli,
types of backgrounds. Lighting a candle for an eighteenth-century artist who explored
atmosphere, Clemente spreads a selection the portrayal of the supernatural, and whose
by one of his favorite tribal artists, Jangarh haunting Head of Satan (1790) presides over
Singh Shyamon, on the studio floor, noting the living room along with a portrait believed
their intricate patterning and commenting to be of surrealist poet Andr Breton by
that he finds the work from remote villages Francis Picabia. Both appeal to him because,
to be just as contemporary as that from the as he explains, I am fond of the rebels. If the
Francesco Clemente
22
23
Opposite: A drawing
by Cy Twombly over the
fireplace is flanked by
a Jean-Michel Basquiat
drawing and a painting
by Clemente in the
dining area. The furni-
ture includes tables
by Isamu Noguchi
and wooden chairs by
Frank Lloyd Wright.
Francesco Clemente
26
chuck
27
close
In a corner of Chuck
Closes living room,
a seventeenth-century
copper-plate engraving by
Claude Mellan that Close
calls a technical tour-de-
force of printmaking
is placed above one of his
Gerrit Rietveld chairs.
Until relatively recently, the living room walls todays contemporary art has kept him busy
of Chuck Closes NoHo penthouse were and amused. It just turned out to be a lot of
gallery-white, a pristine backdrop for a vast fun. It became a project, he says.
collection of contemporary art that included Current favorites include Jan Jansz
several large Sol LeWitts and a Richard Westerbaens seventeenth-century Portrait
Artschwager. Now Old Master paintings in of a Lady, beautifully painted as if the paint
heavy, gilt frames adorn deep red walls. The got blown onto the canvas by some divine
change in decor is a reflection of Closes breath of air, and a seventeenth-century head
curious mind and restless aesthetic. I am of Christ by Claude Mellan that Close know-
plagued with indecision, he laughs. In fact, ingly describes as a tour de force of printmak-
the apartment almost seems like two separately ing. If youve ever tried to make an engraving,
fashioned spaces: a formal area displaying its the hardest thing in the world to do, just to
traditional Old Master religious and historical engrave a straight line, he says, detailing how
subjects and a modern foyer filled with con- Mellan started at the nose, spiraling one long
temporary art. The one constant throughout line that gets thicker and darker or thinner and
the apartment is Closes concentration on lighter as he went around.
portraits from all eras. A second-century bust of Hadrian rests
Close, who suffers from prosopagnosia next to his fireplace in the living room and
(face blindness), is world renowned for inspired Close to begin studying the Roman
reinventing the genre of portraiture with his emperors life; he now easily rattles off newly
photorealist-style paintings and for his use acquired facts, declaring Hadrian pretty
of media as varied as silkscreen, etching, much a pacifist. A Kiki Smith meat head
crayon, and even fingerprints. In the 1960s, sits near the ancient sculpture, a result of a Chuck Close, with works
by Anthony van Dyck and
he developed his trademark practice in which trade between Smith and Close. The sculpture
Jan Jansz Westerbaen
he breaks a master photographic image into is modeled from an actual flank steak that in the background.
28 a grid of incremental parts, each individually Smith cast in plaster, its bumpy finish a notable
29 painted so that, combined, they re-create the contrast with the sleek marble bust.
original image, often blown-up and oversize. Masks of all kindsanother representa-
Subjects have ranged from luminaries such as tion of the human faceare also on display
Barack Obama to fellow artists Philip Glass in Closes living room. A variety of African
and Cindy Sherman, as well as his many masks, some received in lieu of payment
self-portraits over the years. from his gallery, are lined up on a sideboard,
Close began collecting Old Master paint- including a large 1,300-year-old mask of a
ings nearly five years ago, almost by accident. womans face that reminded Close of his wife,
A friend at a European auction house had artist Sienna Shields. Another recalls one
started sending him catalogs, and Close of the faces in Picassos Les Desmoiselles
spotted the seventeenth-century Antonio dAvignon, and a third appealed because
Molinari painting of St. Bartholomew that Close thought it looked like him. A complete
now hangs over his fireplace. Close has a collection of 1940s welders masks, bought
deep background in classical art history and in one set at an antiques store because Close
remembers studying Molinari; in fact, part thought they resembled his African masks,
of the appeal of the Molinari was Closes reali- hangs in the kitchen along with a mixed
zation that he could own a piece of art that set of vintage washboards acquired at various
he had actually learned about in school. So, Hamptons tag sales.
trusting the expertise of his friend, he bought The arrangement of the more contempo- and other artists he appreciates, including Close also has most of a portrait collage that
the painting sight unseen, a move that sur- rary works on shelves in the foyer was inspired Berenice Abbott, Alex Katz, Robert he bought from Ray Johnson: When he asked
prised him. I am offended if someone buys by a 1991 exhibition that Close curated from Mapplethorpe, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de for an artists discount, Johnson took 20
one of my paintings while looking at it on the Museum of Modern Arts collection; the Kooning, Duane Michals, Irving Penn, Man percent off the purchase price but also ripped
a computer screen, [yet] here I am doing the only way he could include approximately 170 Ray, Diane Arbus, and Cindy Sherman off a chunk of the piece to compensate for
same thing I dont believe in, he says, men- chosen portraits in the designated space in the including a photograph of Sherman dressed the deduction.
tioning that he believes the frame alone is museum was to build shelves and overlap the as a nurse, a gift to Close when he was in the Close enjoys looking at the works in the
worth what he paid for the painting. frames. Now everyone does shelves, even the hospital. In addition to the unifying theme foyer while waiting for the elevator and claims
Thus started a string of purchases, includ- Gap, he says. It was sort of radical when I did of portraiture, other similarities with Closes that it all aggregated without me even know-
ing a Rembrandt self-portrait, a Van Dyck, it. But when you bring things together cheek work emerge: a Picasso consisting of finger- ing it. I would trade someone a piece, or some-
a Tintoretto, and several other Dutch mas- by jowl like I did, you are much more aware of prints; a Weegee photograph of Nikita one would draw me, and even if you are not
tersmany bought sight unseen from catalogs. relationships or the absence of relationships. Khrushchev made of incremental units; and actively looking for it, stuff makes its way to
Close explains that the relatively reason- Now his foyer is teeming with layers of a Mark Greenwold portrait of Close posi- your life, he says, reflecting on more than fifty
able price of Old Masters in comparison to photographs, paintings, and prints by friends tioned, appropriately enough, in front of a grid. years immersed in the art world.
Chuck Close
Left: Closes collection
of African masks sits on
a living room shelf next
to Gerrit Rietveld chairs
and examples from his Old
Master collection, includ-
ing Paulus Moreelses
Portrait of a Lady (1623).
The mask on the far
right reminds the artist
of himself.
Following spread:
Ancient stone pieces,
including an Egyptian
limestone bust relief of a
high official (5th6th
Dynasty ca. 24982181
BCE), sit on a Gerrit
Rietveld cabinet in Closes
living room, accompanied
by a Rembrandt still-life
drawing on the far left
and a large seventeenth-
century oil portrait of
Cleopatra by Thomas
Willeboirts Bosschaert.
Johann Tischbein the
Elders official eighteenth-
century portrait of
Frederick II hangs near
the dining table.
30
31
Chuck Close
34
35
Opposite: Antonio
Molinaris seventeenth-
century portrait of St.
Bartholomew is seen above
the fireplace in the living
room. Close traded work
with artist Kiki Smith for
the meat head sculpture
that rests on the floor to the
right, and he spotted the
second-century bust of
Hadrian at an antiquities
store. Following spread:
A close-up of one of Closes
Right: A view of Closes shelves. The portrait of
foyer, where approximately artist Lucas Samaras on the
twenty-five-foot-long bottom shelf, positioned
shelves are filled with con- next to a self-portrait by
temporary artwork, many Close, is a Polaroid shot by
of which are portraits. Close himself.
38
will
39
Cotton
Will Cotton
Cottons 2010 painting of
his partner, Rose Dergan,
coexists with works by
Andy Warhol and Ryan
McGinness. Ceramics by
artist Linda Lighton, who
happens to be Dergans
mother, are on the table.
42
43
Will Cotton
Props, paintbrushes,
lighting equipment,
and paintings are all in
place on the studio side
of Cottons home.
44
45
Will Cotton
46
47
Will Cotton
John
50
Currin
51
Rachel
Feinstein
58
59
Day
Bondage/Bandage (2008),
made from an unraveled
Herv Lger classic ban-
dage dress, dominates E.V.
Days live/work space in
Williamsburg. Fishing line
and steel chains connect
the pieces to the frame.
Based on her provocative work, it might come otherworldlyglamorous in the sense that school and began buying 1940s Carmen
as a surprise that sculptor and installation I felt like I was backstage at a rock show or Mirandastyle heels. Day has recently been
artist E.V. Day hand-presses flowers, collects the opera, she says of watching the gardeners exploring the sculptural possibilities of Lucite
shoes, and lovingly cultivates herbs and plants at work, adding that those same cut flowers pleasers, taking apart and putting back
in the garden of her Williamsburg apartment. in the image were the ones she later used for together the transparent, tippy stiletto heels
Day is known for her deliberate deconstruc- her Seducers series, also on display in the that she jokingly refers to as Fredericks of
tions of such laden symbols of femininity as foyer. Hollywood stripper shoes. They are the
Barbie dolls, wedding dresses, and lingerie in I loved being in Giverny so much, and I ultimate elevation, and I am into things that
order to critique issues of power and societys wanted to have things that were about that, the levitate, she says, relating her interest in the
expectations of women; in fact, in certain colors and this picture, she says of designing structure of the shoe to the way she has raised
cases she creates the illusion that some of her foyer. Day has also dedicated a small room her own sculptures up on plinths.
these objects are actually in the process of to growing indoor plants that she jokingly calls Coincidentally, back on the residential side
exploding apart. her lady cave. There, a pair of post-pop artist of the apartment, Day has an Eric Doeringer
These two seemingly contradictory sides Rob Pruitts first panda prints hangs, framed bootleg work that replicates a shoe painting by
are on display at Days live/work space in a con- in bamboo, which echoes Days collection of Marilyn Minter, another artist who explores
verted jute factory, where one of her signature bamboo furniture, tracked down in vintage the dark side of beauty. I dont really need the
Exploding Couture pieces, Bondage/Bandage stores and on eBay. Day and her husband, well- original, she says of owning the bootleg ver-
(2008), is propped up on blocks, dominating known food writer Ted Lee, wanted furniture sion. I want to look at it, I want to think about
the oversize living room. For this work, Day that didnt appear too hard-edged and angular it, but for me, I dont really need to have that
unwrapped a classic Herv Lger bandage for the formerly industrial space and happened thingits a lot of energy to hold on to.
dress; she then extended and stretched the upon the Paul Frankelstyle bamboo sofas, Work and home life consistently overlap
various mummy-like pieces with fishing line chairs, and mirrors now sprinkled throughout throughout the warm, well-nurtured space.
and steel chains within an oversize plexiglass the house. Im obsessed with bamboo; I want it In addition to being able to work at home, Day
vitrine that stands next to the sofa. Day often everywhere, she says, mentioning her desire considers living among her artwork an added
infuses humor into her other, equally dramatic to plant it in her back garden. benefit. Its the first time I have had enough
suspension pieces: for Divas Ascending (2009), Past the foyer, works by Luke Butler and space to live with art. Some things are too 62
she strung used costumes from well-known Matthew Benedict line the hallway leading powerful to have out all the time, but its fun to 63
operas across the ceiling of Lincoln Centers to the bedroom above a bench covered in fabric finally have an opportunity to live with some
opera house; and in the more recent Catfight designed by the late punk artist and fashion of my art, and its nice to share it with people
(20112014), two resin, silver-leafed, saber- designer Stephen Sprouse, who had been a who might not have seen it in a show.
toothed-tiger skeletons are poised as if to do dear friend of Days. In the bedroom, another
battle in midair. Yet an underlying sense of of Sprouses word-based works, a knockoff
beauty is inherent, especially in her series of Louis Vuitton bag, is tucked in with a water-
flower-based works: richly colored, supersize color by Will Cotton and a drawing by Elena
scans of floral reproductive organs (Seducers), del Rivero. Blown-Up Baby-Doll (1993), a Vito
and cast aluminum sculptures of water lilies Acconci screen print of a dolls face fragmented
E.V. Day in her studio. (Pollinator). Waterlily Transporter (2014) repeats into a kaleidoscope pattern, hangs over her
the theme of suspension with 3-D laser etch- bed, recalling at once the Barbie dolls that
ings of a water lily on plexiglass, layered so that Day has worked with and her methods of
they simultaneously resemble both the flower deconstruction. It is part of a larger series that
and the patterns of fishnet stockingsanother Day first discovered while working at the
loaded and emblematic Day motif. Margarete Roeder Gallery; each piece of the
Days experimentation with plantsboth kaleidoscope image has a Velcro backing so that
in her home garden and in her artemerged it can be rearranged.
from a seminal time she spent in 2010 as the Back in the living area, heavy pocket
artist-in-residence at Claude Monets Giverny doors separate the domestic space from Days
Gardens. Day evokes this experience with 1,200-square-foot studio, where one finds her
a very personal vignette in her front hallway collection of antique, handblown-glass bed-
that she calls a monument to the garden. pans, some shaped for the female anatomy,
Above a console table hangs a large-scale print while others are distinctly for males. Like
of performance artist Kembra Pfahler, who many of Days own pieces, these stylized uri-
is body-painted crimson and holding two nals are at once edgy and beguiling; one partic-
wheelbarrows filled with cut flowers. Day ularly vase-like model currently holds flowers in
collaborated with Pfahler on a series of photo- the front hall. Day has even been experiment-
graphic works at Giverny, but especially ing with incorporating them into future work.
likes this one because it offers a behind-the- Also among the art supplies and urinals
scenes look at the gardeners daily chores, piled throughout the studio is her collection of
which included deadheading flowers. It was platform shoes, started when Day was in high
E.V. Day
64
65
Laurie
Simmons
74
75
Opposite: Leaning on a
mantle in the couples bed-
room is a Mel Bochner
paintinga gift to Dunham
on his fiftieth birthday
next to three African
baskets that just seem to
embody some universal
truth, says Dunham wryly.
On the right, below one of
Simmonss ventriloquist-
dummy photographs is
a self-portrait from the
early 1960s.
Opposite: Drawings
selected by Dunham line
the stairway up to his stu-
dio. From left to right, the
artists represented are A. Above: Dunham selected 2007 works on paper by
R. Penck, Hans Hofmann these colorful, expressive German artist Bendix
(from his 1930s driving drawings for his installa- Harms. Id love to own a
series), Erich Wegner (from tion on the second floor: painting, says Dunham of
1925), and Terry Winters from left, a 1991 drawing by Harmss work, I think hes
(from 1982). Terry Winters and two a terrific artist.
Artist Name
Eric
82
Fischl
83
April
Gornik
An assemblage of Auguste
Rodin and Gustav Klimt
drawings found in Paris
and New York hold a place
of prominence in the sun-
strewn library of April
Gornik and Eric Fischls
Long Island home.
Eric Fischl and April Gorniks sumptuous, the master bedroom alongside traditional arm twists behind his back as a mysterious
Asian-inspired contemporary house, set Japanese prints and Fischls large, wall-size smiling face, a figure eight, and an infinity sign
among reeds and marshes in North Haven, nude painting of Gornik. Klimt often holds dance along the top border. Both Fischl and
New York, seems as if it was designed with a his pencil in such a way that can be so incredi- Gornik appreciate the drawings almost lyrical
consideration of both the exterior views and bly delicate that you get the sense hes holding imagery. I always loved his pastels and water-
the interior installations. Inside are a scholars it from the eraser; hes just sort of touching colors. Hes the greatest poet of our genera-
rock picked up in France, a glass owl sculpture the paper, tickling it, coaxing the human form tion, says Fischl. His juxtaposition of things
perched on a plinth, a life-size African wood into being, says Fischl, commenting that the is so resonant and strange; he speaks through
sculpture of a mother and child, and even an line seems minimal and unfussy. Adds the body.
Amish bonnet constructed from hundreds of Gornik, I just like the touch of this drawing, Despite the sprawling house, the artwork
white-tipped hat pins, a work that Fischl calls I think thats what hes known for; even if the feels at once intimate and personal, perhaps
terrifying and beautiful, a hard combination subject matter isnt seductive and beautiful, because theres a connection behind each
to pull off. Then there are the drawings, paint- the line itself is. piece. I look at everything all the time, says
ings, and photographs by Susan Rothenberg, Down the hall hang a series of abstract Gornik, gazing at a series of Thomas Joshua
Diane Arbus, friends such as Alex Katz and Ralph Gibson photographs of nude women Coopers photographs of the Atlantic Basin,
Sally Gall, and local Hamptons artists, not to cropped details of a folded leg or a crossed a gift from Fischl. Its necessarily accumu-
mention the works by Fischls former painting elbowone of many trades Fischl and Gibson lated; it is the accumulation of all these pres-
students at the New York Academy of Art. have made during the course of their friend- ences. I believe that in art, the artists live, so
The couple, who met forty years ago at the ship. There is work I like because it is along it is like having people and friends and spirits
April Gornik and Eric Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, work the lines of what I do, and then theres work with you. It exponentially expands our living
Fischl in their living room.
in matching studios facing the Peconic Bay and I like because I cant do it, says Fischl mod- space to have these artworks here.
seem quietly in tune with each others sensibil- estly. Ralph fits into the I cant do it category.
ities and rhythms. While many of their pieces That level of erotic and abstractthe sophisti-
were bought together or carefully selected cation is just profound.
as gifts from one to the other, there are some On the other hand, a black-and-white
distinct thematic differences within the collec- photograph of a nude sitting in a chair by 84
tion that reflect their particular artistic styles. British photographer and photojournalist 85
Gornik is a poetic landscape painter, and Bill Brandt that hangs in the dining area has
her emotive compositions include light falling served Fischls talents on at least one occasion;
through trees, moody skies merging with he incorporated the figure into his 1985 paint-
oceans, and clouds gathering over fields. Any- ing Bayonne, as well as other works on paper.
thing pantheistic is hers, Fischl says of their Ive used that figure a lot, he remarks.
collection, referencing her interest in the natu- Although art is on display on nearly every
ral, such as the Jeanette Montgomery Barron surface of the house, Fischl and Gornik, like
photographs of flowers and sea sponges that many artists, dont consider themselves for-
adorn the library. Gornik protests. Its not an mal collectors. I started off buying or trading
even divide. I like figures and abstracts too. with my peers, Fischl explains. I had gone
Fischls psychologically charged paintings to the Picasso Museum and seen Picassos
reintroduced the figure to painting and post- collection of other artists and thought, What
modern discourse in the 1980s, and he tends to a nice way of remembering your time. It
be drawn to works that address the body. Not wasnt that he collected the best of Cezanne
coincidentally, an impressive assemblage of or the best of Matisse, but he had examples.
drawings by Auguste Rodin and Gustav Klimt Thus inspired, Fischl didnt have far to look.
hang in the treehouse-like library, on a back His peers at the time included fellow art stars
wall across from large picture windows. Fischl such as David Salle, Cindy Sherman, and
speaks knowingly about the Rodins, though he Francesco Clemente, who were soaring to
is careful to explain that he looks to the nine- fame in the 1980s, the same time that Fischl
teenth-century master for insights on tech- came into prominence.
niques, rather than as direct source material. One of Clementes large-scale yellow-
Rodin was pretty much the last great and-red watercolors hangs on a long living
sculptor of the body, and he actually believed room wall among other works. A visit with the
that even a small part could express emotions, Clementes in St. Barths led to a trade: portraits
he says. You could cut his sculptures into little of the Clemente family painted by Fischl in
pieces and [still] feel the passion and the tor- return for this work, a mystical supine figure
ment, and so I go back to him over and over floating under grape leaves.
again, he says. A semierotic nude drawing A smaller Clemente watercolor with a
by Klimt, an artist equally admired by Fischl similar palette shows a man bowing his head
for his inimitable drawing skills, hangs in and holding a hat in one arm while the other
Greenfield-
Sanders
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
96
97
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
100
101
Previous spread: An
arrangement inside the
first-floor parlor includes
Andy Warhols 1969 flower
print beside Cecily Browns Above left: A large tondo Opposite: In the main
2003 monoprint. A 2001 painting from 1979 by Joop sitting area is Isca
portrait of Greenfield- Sanders hangs above chairs Greenfield-Sanders s 2003
Sanders by Mimmo and tables by Gustav painting Alice and Stinky
Paladino is below. On the Stickley in the dining area. (Silver Beach). On the left is
sideboard, from left, are Isamu Noguchi designed Richard Princes small
two works by Christian the hanging lamp. 1989 joke painting Hows
Haub, Charles Spurriers Mom, and below is John
gum painting, Isca Above: A drawing of a Sanderss 1990 forged and
Greenfield-Sanderss A shadowy figure, by graffiti flame-carved steel sculp-
Walk with Daddy (2004), artist Richard Hambleton, ture. On the floor is a rare
and a small painting by haunts the airshaft outside 1920s Chinese art deco rug,
Julian Lethbridge. the third-floor landing. a gift from Joop Sanders.
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
102
Mary
103
Heilmann
Mary Heilmann
106
107 Left: A corner of
Heilmanns living room,
with a large collage by
John Waters, comprised
of returned letters on the
far left. John Waterss
personality is such a part
of his art, says Heilmann.
A small Ray Johnson mail-
art piece that the artist sent
to Heilmann is paired to
the bottom right of the
Waters piece. A variety of
Billy Sullivans drawings
hang to the left of the win-
dow, while Cory Arcangels
road painting hangs high to
the windows right. The
pale, aqua-hued octagonal
table is by Heilmann.
Mary Heilmann
110
111
Mary Heilmann
112
Rashid
113
Johnson
Rashid Johnson
116
117
Jonas
A self-portrait by Richard
Serra hangs on the
wall above drawings by
Lawrence Weiner in
Joan Jonass living room.
Shelves hold paintings
of dogs, as well as objects,
photographs, and relics
picked up in her travels.
Props from the seminal performance and video outsider art, she explains, but Im interested they are natural. Some also have intricate
artist Joan Jonass groundbreaking works in people who arent trained and the art they designs, but ultimately its the forms that she
live on equal footing with drawings from her make. I am interested in how they draw, how responds to.
celebrated friends in the SoHo loft where she they work. Jonas began collecting teapots while living
has lived and worked since 1974. Jonas is inter- Her taste runs from a primitive black ele- in Dresden, Germany, and she was drawn to
ested in art by both trained and untrained art- phant sculpture that she admires for the them for similar reasons. I find them to be
ists. I like many things; my taste is very broad, strange shape of its trunk to a pair of realisti- beautiful shapes, and the colors are also amaz-
she explains. To this point, she loves the work cally rendered oil paintings of dogs against ing . Other relics from the artists constant
of nineteenth-century still-life painter Jean- sky-blue backgrounds that border on kitsch. travels are also displayed throughout the loft,
Baptiste-Simon Chardin, but also treasures Its a certain kind of expression, because including a group of belts by Native Americans
her collection of Canadian folk art. its not based on a tradition, she says of these of the Great Plains and a Japanese kite; she
Jonass work has been equally broad in seemingly unsophisticated works, but its admires both for their beautiful abstract
scope. In the 1960s, she transitioned from always based on some very personal obsession designs. Explaining that she later made kites
a sculpture-based practice to revolutionize the that I think artists have. So there are similar for a performance based on this particular
burgeoning medium of performance art by tendencies that are always involved with mak- kites shape, but not its design, she says: I just
experimenting with objects, drawing, medi- ing art. One of them is being obsessed with look at it because it gives me pleasure.
ated imagery, and music in live and recorded one image or one word. I mean, I dont think As an artist who incorporates a wide vari-
work. Beginning with her earliest pieces, she any of these things are great works of art, but ety of subjects and media in her storytelling,
incorporated recurring motifs, such as mirrors, I like them because theyre strange. Jonas has far-reaching interests that are
to reflect and alter perception, and began trans- Many of the objects Jonas acquires play reflected in the diversity of the works in her
forming herself with masks and costumes. roles in her later performances, especially her home. Whether its a Sol LeWitt line drawing
In later pieces, video monitors took the place mirrors and her large assortment of masks. or a wooden seagull decoy, ultimately what
of mirrors, reflecting the cameras view. Two animal masks are displayed side by side she responds to is her own visual interpreta-
Jonass performances have been set in on top of a tall cabinet in the studio area. One tion of each object. I do also buy things that
locations as varied as the shore of the Tiber is an orange, fang-toothed wolf head that shes inspire me, she adds, but mostly its because
River in Rome, Jones Beach, and empty lots on used in several performances; the other she I like the shapes and forms. 124
the Lower West Side of Manhattan, with the purchased recently in Philadelphia, a flecked 125
idea of exploring space and the viewers rela- hyena head that she admits she may never end
tionship to it. Borrowing from traditions and up using. Its very weird to wear, very strange,
myths as diverse as the Hopi Indian Snake she explains. But the orange one is easy.
Dance, Japanese Noh theater, and rituals wit- Her interest in artists on the margin
nessed while living for a year in a small town extends to art made by children. I think I iden-
in Crete, she fluidly reinterprets the past and tify with it in some way; its unrefined and
translates it to the present. Jonass influence slightly awkward, but very particular. The pio-
on younger artists cannot be overstated, and it neering artist seems to relate with those work-
continues to endure: Shes recently been cho- ing on the outside. I have books about folk
Joan Jonas in her Mercer sen to represent the United States in the 2015 art and art by the mentally unstable. I am inter-
Street loft. Venice Biennale. ested in all these forms on the edge, she says.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Jonas was Its not the only thing I am interested in, but
entrenched with a group of young, experi- thats what I actually collect in relation to my
mental artists in the small downtown New own work.
York art scene. A signed self-portrait by Drawing is essential to her practice, and
Richard Serra that was a birthday gift hangs she regularly makes the act of drawing an inte-
on a brick wall near works by Sol LeWitt, Pat gral part of her performances. Aside from
Steir, and Lawrence Weinerall friends since these performative gestures, she often draws
that time. Leaning against her file cabinets variations of dogs, and she has dozens of dog
is a portrait of Jonas made by her close friend sketches throughout her home. I became
June Leaf, whose artistic talent she greatly obsessed about how you draw a dog, and I keep
admires; Leaf also made another portrait of drawing them, she says simply.
her, this one in tin, the only artwork by a con- Jonas has been spending her summers in
temporary that Jonas has actually purchased. Nova Scotia since the 1970s. During her daily
Despite her strong associations with the beach walks with her standard poodle, Ozu, she
established art world, Jonas is drawn to paint- looks for rocks of unusual size and shapea
ings and sculptures found outside the main- passion she thinks she inherited from her
stream community, especially folk art. I think mother, who also collected stones. A tiered
there is a thin line between what things look shelf near the front entrance hall holds some of
like when artists are trained or untrained, and the more striking examples; a few are so large
I dont like any of the labels that go with it, like and strangely shaped that its hard to believe
Joan Jonas
126
127
Joan Jonas
128
129
Joan Jonas
132
Glenn
133
ligon
Glenn Ligon
136
137
Glenn Ligon
138
139
Opposite: A look at
Cady Nolands 1996 card-
board work, (Not Yet
Titled), on the right wall
of Ligons study.
140
141
Glenn Ligon
Helen
142
Marden
143
Brice
Marden
146
147
Minter
Marilyn Minter
160
161
Marilyn Minter
Mary Heilmanns 1990
painting Seam accompanies
a photography portfolio
organized by Minter to
benefit the Lily Sarah Grace
Fund that includes works
by (clockwise from top
left) Jack Pierson, Cindy
Sherman, Heilmann,
Anne Collier, Minter, and
Laurie Simmons.
162
163
Marilyn Minter
164
165
Opposite: In Minters
entrance hall, the 2012 can-
vas Nobody Sees Like Us
by her former student
Jeff Elrod hangs above
Mao, Gerhard Richters
1968 print. Another former
student, Austin Lee, is
represented by Mr. Worry,
a neon-hued portrait from
2013 installed below a 1970
collage by abstract pop
artist Nicholas Krushenick.
Marilyn Minter
Michele
166
167
Oka
D oner
174
175
Paine
Roxy Paine
180
181
Opposite: Shelves in
Paines living room hold
sulfur, sandstone, meteor-
ite, conglomerate, and
volcanic rock from his
collection. The artist is
interested in geologic for-
mation and the role of
different organic materials
in natural processes.
Roxy Paine
182
183
Roxy Paine
Ellen
184
Phelan
185
Joel
Shapiro
188
189
192
193
Rondinone
A stained-glass window,
designed by Urs Fischer
in 2001, faces the living room
on one side and the bath-
room on the other in Ugo
Rondinones Harlem apart-
ment. To the left is Coronation,
Verne Dawsons 2004 small
landscape painting. The chair
is also by Fischer.
Ugo Rondinone lives on the second floor he also owns approximately twenty paintings human condition. He always made a juxtaposi-
of a former Baptist church in Harlem, an by the landscape artist Louis Eilshemius, tion between hard-edged forms and very soft
apartment resplendent with stained-glass a nineteenth- to twentieth-century painter. forms to represent masculinity and feminin-
windows, fleur-de-lis ornamentation, and Hes really the only American romanticthat ity. Two early abstract metallic sculptures
ornate, filigreed chandeliers dangling from is a sweet spot for me, Rondinone says. by Gironcoli are prominently displayed and
forty-foot ceilings. Rondinone is friends with many of the also directly reflect this pointa silvered, con-
The 15,500-square-foot church, which artists he collects and trades with and has cave ovoid hangs near the dining table, while
Rondinone bought and restored in 2011, is an a curators eye for display. In fact, he has orga- a golden pipe-shaped form protrudes over
appropriately imaginative milieu for an artist nized several internationally acclaimed exhibi- the fireplace, the works deliberately placed
as renowned for his fantastical artworks as tions and also curates an ongoing window to relate to each other. In his bedroom,
he is for his productivity. And the church is gallery near his former downtown studio Rondinone continues this gender exploration
more than a home: Rondinone has dedicated where he highlights artists in his collection. with rows of nude drawings by such stellar
the double-height, former congregational One artist hes included is Latifa Echakhch, twentieth-century draftsmen as John Currin,
space to his private studio, while the basement a Moroccan artist whose rug with its center Karen Kilimnik, John Copeland, Joe Brainard,
houses smaller studios for a rotating cast of disemboweled so that only the outline remains and Andy Warhol. There is no pattern to this
visiting artists. hangs near the fireplace and creates an empti- arrangement, he admits, apart from how the
Rondinone works in nearly every form of ness around that resonates with Rondinone. simple aesthetics of the various figures play
media imaginable, producing subjects ranging And while he acknowledges that he finds a off one another.
in size, shape, and subject matter from oversize connection with Swiss artists, there are other Rondinone maintains that every piece he
neon rainbow signs (with tongue-in-cheek, elements Rondinone seeks when trading or owns is of equal importance, emphasizing
Ugo Rondinone in his studio. bubble-lettered mottos such as Hell, Yes (2007) buying art. that he has no intention of selling any of his
on the roof of New Yorks New Museum of Most of these artists create their own artwork. It is always uplifting to live with
Contemporary Art) to small, delicate bronze little world; they create their own iconogra- these worksthey radiate this magical divide
birds; life-size painted-aluminum olive trees; phy, he explains. And most of these artists are between the here and the other side, he says,
round paintings of multicolored target circles; not studio artists; they do not have a big opera- standing in the middle of his own magical
mystical face masks; and even a set of 30,000- tion. Thats what I like. space. It is almost as if Rondinone sees the 198
pound primitive stone figures that once pre- Upon closer inspection, a green and potential in every form, perhaps because he is 199
sided over Rockefeller Center. Though the white stained-glass paneechoing not only so comfortable working in so many media; he
aesthetics of his work vary greatly, there is an the rooms stained-glass windows but also is presently toying with the idea of incorporat-
underlying sense of fantasy that is also felt the stained-glass clocks that Rondinone has ing a preexisting archway in his home into
the moment one enters the monumental lime- installed next to the door of his bedroom a sculpture of a sunrise. In a way, the church
stone church. reveals a toilet and sink in the foreground. itself has provided Rondinone with enough
Its important for me to have art around Designed by fellow Swiss artist and friend space for his ever-expanding artistic pursuits.
me. I consider artists a magical tool, so they Urs Fischer, the image is an exact replica of
empower me, says Rondinone, who began Rondinones bathroom in his former apart-
collecting Swiss artists in the early 1990s ment and Rondinone thought it only appropri-
before broadening his focus. ate to move it uptown. Rondinone also owns
Among an edition of Paul Thek etchings a Fischer sculpture of two rabbits being pulled
framed in individual yellow plexiglass boxes, out of matching top hats by a pair of suspended
Cady Noland aluminum silkscreens, and an hands, as well as several Parkett book editions
early black fiberglass wall relief by Peter Halley Fischer designed that sit on the coffee table.
are some of his own works with particular per- Rondinone has explored the masculine/
sonal significance. Rondinone has kept the feminine divide in his work, a dichotomy that
first works from several of his series; his first has also informed the art he has collected.
olive tree, this one in polyester, stands in the When asked to explain how, he says with a
living room, while his first mask and first bird smile, Just in the Freudian stuff, indicating
sculpture appear in his bedroom. Cady Nolands rubber tire penetrated by a steel
Brightly painted rocks, models for future pole sitting beside Sarah Lucass provocative
larger sculptures, dot the dining table that he pink rubber phallus, Obodaddy II. Theres
himself crafted. I use all the romantic symbols also a little landscape by Verne Dawson that
of nature. Nature is a big part of my work, says Rondinone admires for its fairy-tale aspects,
Rondinone, whose first works were land- pointing out the crux of the story: A prince
scape drawings. I like the force of nature. is depicted copulating with his horse so that he
To that point, he has lined an entire bookshelf can be coronated.
in the kitchen with his collection of scholars Rondinone is deeply indebted to the
rocks that have also inspired some of his own teaching of the Austrian sculptor Bruno
sculpture. And though they are not currently Gironcoli, explaining that Gironcoli was
hanging (Rondinone loves to adjust his art), interested in similar questions about the
Ugo Rondinone
200
201
Ugo Rondinone
204
205
Ugo Rondinone
208
Andres
209
Serrano
A seventeenth-century
Spanish sculpture of the
head of St. John the Baptist
lies on a fifteenth-century
Alpine cabinet in the entry-
way of Andres Serranos
Greenwich Village
apartment.
A standard-issue, plain gray metal door greets eventually turned his focus to the medieval you see where people have touched them the
visitors at the entrance to photographer and Renaissance periodsnothing later than most, like Christs feet, says Serrano.
Andres Serranos Greenwich Village home. the seventeenth century, because, as he Serrano spotted the seventeenth-century
But the other side of the door has a decidedly explains, this era pleases him aesthetically. walnut cassapanca partly hidden under a
different look: Serrano has meticulously The Renaissance is the period of highest rug at the home of neighborhood dealer
veneered a seventeenth-century carved oak achievement and civilization in terms of art Maurice Margolis; legend has it that Mikhail
door onto the inside door facing his living and culture, so I feel like you cant go wrong. Baryshnikov had originally been interested but
rooma fitting introduction to a home It feels right to me. they couldnt agree on the price. Stories are
that showcases his extensive collection of A large, wooden crucified Christ, which, behind many of Serranos pieces, such as the
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European according to Serrano, is sixteenth-century throne-like chair that he bought in southern
religious art, furniture, and icons. FrenchI have to trust the auction house England when on assignment photographing
I felt like I had a collection that had a cer- research, he laughsdominates one living Alexander McQueen, or the full-length gilt
tain amount of age, and I wanted to renovate room wall. The figure is hung high, as if over an mirror in the upstairs bathroom, unearthed the
in order to bring in that age, he says of the altar, opposite a seventeenth-century Gothic- last time Serrano was in Belgium for a gallery
broader aesthetic of the home. So Serrano style bishops chair. The tall chair back is indic- show. I never know what I am going to find.
lined the interior walls with pearly Jerusalem ative of the bishops importance, says Serrano, Sometimes I think, Oh, I know why I came to
limestone, installed heavy oak paneling and and he has installed a neo-Gothic carved can- this placeit wasnt for this show, it was to find
floors, and covered arched doorways with opy on top, simply because he thinks that this so I feel like I have a piece of that place.
Spanish and Portuguese tiles so that the apart- the two pieces complement each other. Next Serrano sleeps in an enormous Charles I
ment perfectly reflects a very distinct, Old to the canopied chair, a seventeenth-century four-poster canopy bed that he bought, sight
World aesthetic. The result is a peaceful, serene Spanish provincial giltwood Madonna and unseen, through Christies auction house
space, not unlike the churches he likes to visit Child sculpture is mounted, also above eye in London three years ago, after a heated
on his frequent trips to Europe. levelone of many Madonna and Child icons and competitive auction. Despite a figure of
Serranos palpable love of and interest in Serrano has displayed in the apartment. a Spanish monk that peers out from the wall
religious objects may come as a surprise to Serrano doesnt limit himself solely to next to the bed, the basement bedroom is,
those who remember the controversy and pro- religious objects, however. Secular furniture, like the rest of the home, still and tranquil. 210
tests surrounding his 1987 photograph Piss which he admires for its masculine look and In fact, Serrano describes sleeping in the 211
Christ, a color-infused display of a plastic cru- well-patinaed wood, has also caught his eye seventeenth- century bed like being in your
cifix submerged in urine. The work became over the years and integrates easily with own private box.
a rallying point for conservatives opposing the religious pieces. Curated groupings of As a friend once commented to Serrano
what they saw as the desecration of religious objects appear on the surfaces of this furniture after visiting the apartment, Your aesthetic is
iconography in contemporary art. throughout the apartment. One oak cabinet complete, referring to the quiet dignity of his
The juxtaposition of beautiful imagery features seventeenth-century French real home as well as to how he treats the subject
with controversial subjects is central to estate ledgers, their ruffled pages full of hand- matter in his photographs. I try to make work
Serranos work, and his graceful, even exqui- written notations, set among antique skulls, that feels like you are there with the person [in
site, rendering of troubling motifs, such as the while a French iron box and giant heavy brass the photograph], the way you can almost hear
Andres Serrano at home. anonymous dead bodies in his 1992 Morgue candlesticks top another oak cabinet. a pin drop, like in a church. Work that I feel has
series, can be disquieting. Yet Serrano explains Toward the back window of the living longevity and a classical elementthat is why
and defends his long-held Christian beliefs. room, four antique 4x5 and 8x10 large- I feel at home with these objects, because they
The religious in my work is an homage to format cameras sit atop the photographers give me that very traditional feeling.
the church, and its using the aesthetics and seventeenth-century Italian cassone (or trunk)
language of the church. Because I am an artist intricately carved with flowers. Ive actually Following spread:
who is not that simple, the work has to be been thinking about trying to use them, The main living area of
layered, it has to have the edge and uncertainty he notes of the cameras. Serrano can discuss Serranos apartment,
which he repaneled with
of great art. You dont know what it really with authority how, over time, the cassone salvaged wood from a
means. Ive always said that my work is a evolved into the cassapanca, a bench-like form, nineteenth-century church
mirror and you see what you want to see in which then developed into the modern-day in New Jersey. Among the
objects are a fifteenth-
it. In fact, his 1990 series of the Ku Klux sofaa perfect example of which stands
century English throne
Klan stems from an interest in the transfor- under the sixteenth-century Christ figure. chair (against the left wall),
mative ritual of wearing a robe, whether on Both furniture forms traditionally hide stor- an early-seventeenth-
a Klansman, nun, or priest. age space underneath, which Serrano utilizes, century English oak draw
leaf table, and an early-
A self-described obsessive collector, so the apartment remains clean and nearly
sixteenth-century Franco-
Serrano travels constantly, visiting local empty, allowing the grandeur of his pieces to Flemish marriage chest
auction houses and antiques stores and will fill the room. (against the back wall).
even scour basements and track down elusive The collection is meant to be used, and Anything that I put here
usually does not look out of
owners of seldom-opened shops in search I use everything, even sculptures. If you buy it,
place, because it belongs to
of new treasures. Though he started collecting you can touch it. Dealers explained to me that around the same period,
art deco pieces twenty-five years ago, he these sculptures were touched, and sometimes says Serrano.
Andres Serrano
214
215
Opposite: A seventeenth-
century Italian bench,
known as a cassapanca,
serves as extra seating for
large gatherings. The sus-
pended Christ figure is
sixteenth-century French
and looks over a fifteenth-
century Spanish sculpture
of St. John the Baptist hold-
ing a lamb (on the right)
and a fifteenth-century
religious painting.
Above: A seventeenth-
century bust of a female
saint sits on the mar-
riage chest, among four
seventeenth-century
French real estate
ledgers, accompanied
by eighteenth-century
skulls whose origins are
unknown to Serrano.
Andres Serrano
216
217
Andres Serrano
218
Cindy
219
sherman
An arrangement of works
by Ukrainian artist Sergey
Zarva, originally discov-
ered at a Moscow gallery,
is installed in Cindy
Shermans dining area.
To the left is a ceramic
by Matthew Solomon.
Entering Cindy Shermans duplex penthouse Stockholm-based artist Klara Kristalova sits disgusting but humorous too. Like a horror of magazine covers from Ogoniok, the long-
through her studio, where she tidily stores on a table in the hall under three mummified movie that you just want to laugh at, but its running Russian publication.
decades worth of the clothing, wigs, and masks Barbies by E.V. Day. Its a delicately glazed, also disgusting. Shermans collection also extends into less
shes used to transform herself in photographs, expertly rendered piece of a disturbingly over- Ukrainian artist Sergey Zarva is one of conventional work, including shelves of chil-
you immediately notice that she enjoys living size and misshapen form. Sherman began Shermans favorite finds, and she has a wall of drens toys, an installation of voodoo art, and
with the work of other artists. While her props collecting ceramics about five years ago, ini- his paintings installed in the dining area. She many pieces by outsider artists. The materiality
fill the studio, its the work of friendsSarah tially with the work of Chicago-based Chris was introduced to his work while visiting a and humor in the work and a focus on altered
Charlesworth, Robert Longo, Lisa Yuskavage Garofalo, whom she discovered through a Moscow gallery and later bought additional bodies, no matter the medium, unite the
as well as outsider artists, ceramicists, and blurb in the New York Times. Garofalos porce- pieces at a New York art fair. When she pur- wide-ranging collection. Weird body parts,
younger artists she admires, that fill her walls. lain pieces resemble colorful sea anemones but chased the work, she knew nothing about weird faces, weird hair portraits, weird charac-
I try to support smaller galleries and are, in fact, creations of her own imagination. the artist, and she emphasizes that she knows ters, weird mixing up and mash-ups of the
young, lesser-known artists. Its about how I Their slightly surreal quality is enhanced by little more now. Zarva paints over photo- body are what interest Sherman in art, a fitting
relate to myself as a young artist, she explains, a visual fragility that contrasts with their sharp, graphic images, distorting facial features with draw for an artist who transforms herself so
feeling so excited when Chuck Close came to spiky outgrowths. Once Sherman discovered garish colors and expressions. Shermans completely and convincingly in her own work.
see an early show, or when someone bought them, she explains, I ended up buying about arrangement includes one from his series
something at a really early time. It just meant twenty of them and putting them all over
so much to me. In fact, a characteristic grid- the house. I always feel as if I want to touch
ded self-portrait by Close, now a friend, hangs them and move them around. They are just so
above a worktable in the studio. beautiful. Like sea creatures themselves,
Cindy Sherman in her
Connected to the studio, a hall holds the works are installed on walls and surfaces,
studio among props and
rows of shelves stacked with drawings and spilling out into the space around them. costumes from her work.
photographs. Describing the commonality of Sherman has gone on to buy the work of
the works, Sherman notes: Theres texture, other ceramicists, including both abstract and
a mix of media. For a while I collected a lot of figurative works from the influential teacher
photography, which I tend to do more than Ken Tisa. One characteristic example depicts
220 painting. I relate to photographic images and the head and upstretched arms of a white
221 recognizable things like that. Here, the work figure with a frightened expression, seemingly
is primarily figurative but almost always dis- trapped in a delicate pot. Shes also commis-
torted. A small de Kooning figure is arranged sioned Matthew Solomon, whose botanical-
beside a prized nineteenth-century photo- inspired ceramics she owns, to make a new
graph of Comtesse de Castiglione, an aristo- work for the fireplace in her bedroom.
crat who commissioned more than four In Shermans bedroom, in front of a
hundred portraits by Pierre-Louis Pierson of floor-to-ceiling window, a sculpture by Olaf
herself posing in elaborate costumes, reenact- Breuning takes center stage. Depending on the
ing roles taken from theater, literature, or her reading, its either an angry-faced man walking
own imagination. Below, a 1976 black-and- a submissive, frightened dog, or two figures
white photograph by Laurie Simmons depicts engaged in a sexual act. Constructed entirely
Following spread: An instal-
the blurred face of a doll. Again, the figure of musical instruments purchased from the lation in Shermans living
is present but transformed. discount Chinatown store Pearl River, it room consists of, from
This could be expected from an artist who employs bells, harmonicas, and guitar picks to top left, a work by John
Hiltunen next to a small
has helped define the medium of photography depict the facial expressions of each character. painting by Esther Pearl
and postmodernism by taking on various Breunings subtle manipulations clearly relay Watson, with James
disguised and altered roles in her own images. each characters divergent emotions, an effect Wellings 2010 photograph
Photographys exploration of the line between that is both humorous and disturbing. below. To the right, a large
black-and-white drawing
reality and fiction, and its ability to blur this In certain cases, Sherman follows an artist of a buried man by Dana
separation, is central to Shermans work, for years before she purchases a work. By the Schutz, (Untitled) Dead Guy,
in which she plays the roles of set designer, time she visited a Nicole Eisenman exhibition, from 2003; Michele Abeless
print of an outstretched
costume director, makeup artist, model, and she wasnt able to buy one of the large can-
hand; and an exploding
director. Beginning in 1977 with the immea- vases. I have a bad habit of seeing things the thread piece by Megan
surably influential Untitled Film Stills, her day they are closing, or going the last week of Whitmarsh. Another small
appropriated personas probe questions of the show, she comments ruefully. The portrait Watson lives beside Martin
Kippenbergers 1994 OPreis
collective identity and culture. Diverse depic- she eventually purchased depicts a man who
painting. On the far right,
tions of an array of 1940 to 1950s female film has been blinded by pieces of what Sherman the 1990 fabric piece
archetypesa hitchhiker, femme fatale, describes as flowery things coming out of his Double Flaccid Cat by Mike
and career womanseem almost recogniz- eyeballs. The grassy pieces neutralize the por- Kelley sits above a second
Welling photograph. On
able from their specific narratives but are traits frightening statement. Sherman contin-
the top shelf are Chris
not derived from existing motion pictures. ues: Its kind of funny. Its like my sense of Garofalos ceramics, and on
A newly purchased ceramic head by the humor, a mash-up of things that are gross and the left a piece by Ken Tisa.
Cindy Sherman
224
225
Cindy Sherman
226
227
Opposite: Leaning on
shelves among dozens
of works in Shermans
hall is a small sketch by
Willem de Kooning next
to a Pierre-Louis Pierson
photograph of Virginia
Oldoini, Comtesse de
Castiglione. An aristocrat
who commissioned more
than four hundred por-
traits by Pierson, Oldoini
would pose for photo-
graphs in elaborate cos-
tumes, assuming roles
taken from theater, litera-
ture, and her own imagi-
nation. Below at left is
Laurie Simmonss Untitled
(Womans Head) from 1976.
228
229
Cindy Sherman
230
pat
231
steir
Hanging prominently
above the fireplace in Pat
Steirs living area is John
Cages Fire (1985). Steirs
studio assistant, Alexis
Myre, is represented on
the mantle with Fall (2011)
and, above, Chorus (2009),
the sculpture of upstretched
legs. There are also exam-
ples of cubic pyrite from
Spain that were once rear-
ranged by sculptor Joel
Shapiro during a dinner
party.
Pat Steir, the revered painter of large, lumi- ground. Sometimes I lie on the couch, and important aspects in her practice.
nous, abstract canvases, lives in a handsome I try to figure out where he started, she says of One of Cages prints hangs above a fire-
townhouse overlooking a communal garden the work. I just like the way it looks. place ledge that is lined with objects, including
with her husband, the publisher Joost Elffers. Richard Tuttle also has a site-specific pyrite cubes that Joel Shapiro once rearranged
I dont really collect, she says modestly. work in this room, a delicate tin piece resem- while at a dinner party, a large meteorite, and
I dont like to have too many things. Yet her bling a leaf installed on a light-gray painted works by her studio assistant Alexis Myre and
Greenwich Village home is full of beautiful wall. Its an intimate gesture of thanks from John Newman.
objects and artwork, a testament to both her Tuttle, who stayed with his wife at the town- Across the room, a Frank Gehry cardboard
visual acuity and her five-decade-long career house when they moved to New York. In the table holds sculptures from Japan and China,
as a painter very much at the forefront of same room, a glossy red contoured ceramic and ceramics by friends Mary Heilmann and
her profession. by Lynda Benglis sits among natural artifacts Betty Woodman sit on other tabletops. Above
Best known for her waterfall paintings, and a Kiki Smith twig sculpture on a table the well-used sculptural sideboard hangs a
a series of works begun in the late 1980s where positioned below a painting by Steirs former tableau of works on paper, including an etching
she pours and drips paint onto a canvas from student Ross Bleckner. by Anish Kapoor, an early Josef Albers wood-
a stepladder above, Steir combines a concep- Steir refers to the special works of art that cut, a Robert Mangold collage, and a Stephen
tual approach with painterly gesture. I picture have been given to her as love giftssuch as Mueller painting. There is also an etching by
it in my mind. I figure out my colors, the size Smiths etching of birds flying around a rising her friend of fifty-four years, fellow abstract
of my pouring, my layers, and then I do it. I figure, which she discovered one day rolled up painter Brice Marden. I was like the girl who
visualize and control it. The paint moves down in her mailboxand typically these offerings had a smart older brother with her, she says
the canvas, interacting with existing layers have stories, sometimes simple, sometimes with a mischievous smile, recalling when she
of paint and creating intentional and uninten- dramatic. In her kitchen, several early Bernd first socialized with Marden in college. Now I
tional results. and Hilla Becher photographs of industrial think that my painting hanging with Brices
The role of chance has played an important landscapes recall a 1978 trip to visit the couple in the MoMA is like a feminist statement. But
part in Steirs life, just as it has in her work. in Dsseldorf. Steir was driving late at night, just as important, its also an art statement; art
In 1968 an unexpected meeting led to a sponta- and, as she remembers: I drove up on the is art.
neous but monumental change of course. wrong side of the autobahn, and Sol was 232
I was at a party with Bruce Nauman, she screaming so loud, it was like white noise. A 233
recounts. Bruce said, Im having a retrospec- truck stopped this far away [she gestures about
tive in Pasadena; do you want to come? The a foot] from us, facing us, and the police came,
next day I packed up the car and left. and they let us back onto the other side, and
What was intended to be a short visit was they didnt arrest me or even give me a ticket;
extended when John Baldessari invited her they gave me a lecture. They continued on
to speak at CalArts. John had signs all over to their destination, and when Steir arrived,
the building that said somewhat famous artist the couple gave her the photographs in an
giving a lecture, says Steir. The lecture was attempt to calm her down.
a success, and the school hired her to teach Steir notes that the groundbreaking
Pat Steir in her second-floor painting. She then agreed to housesit for the composer, writer, and artist John Cage has
parlor in front of Sol Naumans, where, she was told, another artist had an immense impact on her work and
LeWitts wall drawing from
was also staying: Sol LeWitt, the influential became a close friend over time. Two of the
August 1994.
conceptual artist, with whom she would have only works she has purchased include his
a lifelong friendship. Fire prints, prime examples of Cages method
As a result, dozens of LeWitts works of indeterminacy. To create these pieces,
from various points in his career appear the artist set fire to papers on a printing press
throughout Steirs townhouse, including a in a method dictated by the I Ching, an
very early piece from the late 1960s in her ancient Chinese method of divination, which
entryway: a triangle-shaped drawing with sin- Steir describes as similar to dice throwing.
uous graphite lines framed by the artist him- This theory of randomness also greatly influ-
self. When Steir moved to the townhouse in enced Steir when she began her method
1993, LeWitt conceived one of his signature of pouring paint.
wall-size works as a gifta large circle of I was always interested in Chinese land-
tightly drawn white crayon scribbles on a scape and brushstroke painting, where the
bright yellow basethat now dominates her calligrapher would meditate on his poem and
second-floor parlor, diffusing a warm light his brushstroke, and he would just sit until he
throughout the room. was ready, Steir says. He would eat and drink
Hanging on a nearby wall is another large- and sit and look at the paper, and suddenly he
scale work by LeWitt that Steir admits is would get up and do his work. I emulate that
one of her favorites, a work on paper depicting process. She also credits Cage with her inter-
dense white undulating lines on a dark blue est in Buddhism and meditation, both still
Pat Steir
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235
Pat Steir
238
239
Pat Steir
240
241
Thomas
Mickalene Thomas
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247
Opposite: A view of
Thomass living room.
Mickalene Thomas
249
249
Mickalene Thomas
252
leo
253
Villareal
Leo Villareal
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257
Leo Villareal
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259
260
261
Leo Villareal
Ursula
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263
von
Rydingsvard
A close-up of African
knives and teapots from
China and Japan coexist
on a bookshelf in Ursula
von Rydingsvards
Manhattan apartment.
When Ursula von Rydingsvard explains why craftsmanship and cultural purpose, and she smoke still emanating from the mask that is so
she loves the distressed look and feel of one often labels the insides of her possessions with resonant of Africa.
her many African masks, cast-iron Chinese the country of origin. Rows of hundred-year- The soft-spoken, elegant sculptor has been
teapots, or woven market baskets, she could old teapots line shelves in a guest bedroom, known to follow one of her favorite Nigerian
be describing the very physical appeal of her organized by their size and shape rather than dealers from the Twenty-Fifth Street flea mar-
own world-renowned, large-scale wood by nationality. The smaller, more delicate mod- ket to a rented storage unit just to examine
or cast sculptures. A small crew of assistants els tend to be Japanese, while the squatter ones and buy more of his imported gemsa Gabon
helps her piece together these massive works, are Chinese, and the smallest are Japanese sake tribal mask or a set of small figurines from
while she painstakingly cuts, assembles, and pots. Though von Rydingsvard has never used the Nandi tribewhich have found sanctuary
laminates, finally rubbing powdered graphite any as utilitarian objects, the sculptor in her among her possessions.
into the works textured faceted surfaces. clearly enjoys examining their construction. Though the objects and materials in her
The resulting piecesoften on display in pub- Cradling one pot in a loving but almost clinical apartment hail from many corners of the globe,
lic forums as varied as the Storm King Art manner, she reveals an undercarriage designed a tangible feeling of age and substance unites
Center and Brooklyns Barclays Center for a fire so that sake could be reheated when them. Von Rydingsvard is always searching for
feature tactile surfaces distinguished by a one was traveling; another has sweet hinges something indescribable yet specific to her
handmade appearance. In fact, her chiseled shaped like hands to grasp its top; and a third sensibilities. And she only knows it when she
cedar sculptures, covered with surface texture features coin decorations used to bring the sees it. When I bring something home, I cant
and often partially blackened with graphite, drinker good luck. wait to hang it up or live with it or see how it
Ursula von Rydingsvard in naturally age and evolve over time, an effect Perched carefully among the teapots are feels to live with, so I think the joy is not in how
front of one of her beloved
heightened in the outdoor work. two particularly prized African knives. Again, it gets here or even the history of that, but its
textiles hung over her bed-
room door. Similarly, von Rydingsvard is attracted to von Rydingsvard admires what she calls their something else. It makes me feel like I have
objects made from organic material with a beaten-down appearance and functionality, a greater support in my own home, that it is
well-worn patina and a definite sense of grav- especially the scythe-shaped cutter, made more welcoming, that it is more interesting.
ity and purpose, an appreciation perhaps born to spiral through the air as it is thrown at its
out of a childhood spent in postWorld War II desired target. And though she demonstrates
German refugee camps. She forages flea mar- by fake-tossing the knife, she sees in its design 264
kets around the world, from Manhattans and dilapidated edges an object of beauty 265
famed scrum on West Twenty-Fifth Street to rather than menace. Theres something that
the crowded stalls in Beijing, which she first happens to the surfacesit had to be pounded
visited twenty years ago. That was the best; in [to] the shape, its so full of honor and full
the flea markets were loaded. I went again of want, she comments, caressing the undulat-
maybe ten years later, and they were already ing wave of its steely surface.
depleted, and recently there wasnt anything Back in the dining room, among a Dogon
that you would want to get your hands on, she monkey mask peeking out from a wall and
says with a sigh. Though the pieces shes cho- a large mother-and-child sculpture from
sen may seem primitive to the untrained eye, the Makonde tribe in Tanzania, are a dozen
von Rydingsvard quietly asserts that these square-shaped Tibetan sticks of various
craftsmen were as talented as any of us. lengths, meticulously lined up and hung over
Von Rydingsvard is also drawn to textiles, the sideboard. Appropriately enough, the
admiring their handmade intricacy. Pulling sticks were used in temples for stamping
out a delicate kimono from a stack stored in symbols on the surfaces of food during certain
a high chest in her living room, she points out holy days. Von Rydingsvard bought them all
its worn structure, remarking: Things like this at the same time in Beijing, attracted to the
teach me about my own surfaces, the kind of repetition of their inscribed symbols, which
wear that has credibility and gives the objects reminds her of how she would count Hail
this kind of history. In an almost ritualistic Marys on rosary beads during her Catholic
routine, von Rydingsvard likes to practice upbringing in Poland. As a young girl, von
folding and unfolding her textiles, especially Rydingsvard had wanted to be a nun. Now,
the black funeral kimonos adorned with family though she is no longer a practicing Catholic,
insignias, in an attempt to re-create how she is still attracted to and collects religious
the Japanese have performed this similar icons, displayed both in her bedroom and in
ceremony for centuries; only when she has a shrine-like arrangement in the front hall.
achieved the perfect fold is she satisfied Von Rydingsvard is particularly intrigued
that the fabrics are now at rest in the positions by the design of her deeply grooved, wooden
for which they were originally designed. African masks, showing on one how the carver
And yet von Rydingsvard is not particu- used the same line for the eyebrows to con-
larly interested in the backstories of the objects tinue down the face for the beard. She savors
she collects. Rather, what fascinates her is their these little moments, like the faint smell of
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267
Opposite: Von Rydingsvards Rydingsvard has arranged on top of the suitcase are
friend, Puerto Rican sculptor a colorful beaded African U.S. Army blankets she
Charles Juhasz-Alvarado, cap (top shelf, center) with used while staying at
designed the cabinetry Japanese cast-iron teapots German refugee camps
using a variety of rare woods. below, next to an Ashanti after leaving Poland. The
Above: A Kuba cloth hangs Among a white clay box stool from Ghana on the cardboard suitcase and
next to a wooden mask and the plaster-cast hands far right. On the bottom books are also remnants
from Gabon on the right. made by her daughter, Von row, the folded blankets from that time.