Inside the Painter's Studio, Inside the Artist's Studio
Inside joe fig s studio 360 view
Joe Fig (born January 21, 1968 in Seaford, NY) is an American artist and author best known for his paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs that explore the creative process, the working lives of artists, and the spaces where art is made. His work draws from Western art history, the mythology of art, and visual culture.
Joe Fig was born in 1968 in Seaford, New York, and received both his BFA and MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. His early work includes reproductions of the studios of legendary modern artists, such as Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, and Willem de Kooning. He also previously produced a group of paintings that focus on the art historical moment when the young pioneers of modernism—like Édouard Manet—overtook the old guard of painting.
In 2005, Fig turned his attention to the work spaces and lives of contemporary artists. In his most recent work, he begins by conducting an interview with an artist in his or her studio. Fig asks them a series of questions about their daily routines and the history of their practice, before photographing and recording their studio and its contents. He then creates a meticulous replicate of that artist's studio, in sculpture, painting, and/or drawing.
The artworks both champion the creative process and reveal the mundane tasks involved in making art. Each portrait documents how an artist has organized his or her space, as well as the tools and inspirations he or she keeps at hand. The works contain such details as spectacles resting on a desk, books stacked on shelves, or paint drips on a floor. By presenting this "god's-eye view" of artists in their studios, Fig not only demystifies the creative act, but also illuminates the contrast between spaces where art is made and spaces where art is shown.
Fig is represented by Cristin Tierney Gallery in New York and Carroll and Sons in Boston.
Publications
Fig is the author of the books Inside the Painter's Studio and Inside the Artist's Studio, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2009 and 2015, respectively. In complement to his artistic practice, both books document Fig's conversations with the artists he has interviewed, and include photographs of their studios. His sculptures and paintings of the interviewees' studios are also illustrated. Fig's most recent book, Inside the Artist's Studio, provides insights into the lives and studios of several select contemporary artists, including Leonardo Drew, Kate Gilmore, Roxy Paine, Will Ryman, and Laurie Simmons.
Fig also contributed to the book Narcissus in the Studio, which was published by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2010.
Solo Exhibitions
2016: Drawings, EBK Galery, Hartford, CT
2015: Joe Fig: Inside the Artist's Studio, Cristin Tierney, New York, NY; Joe Fig: Inside the Artist's Studio, Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA
2014: New/Now, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
2012: Cinematic Paintings, Cristin Tierney, New York, NY; Mining the Past and Present, Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT
2011: New Paintings, Cristin Tierney, New York, NY; Inside the Painter’s Studio, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2009: Inside the Painter’s Studio, Hendershot Gallery, New York, NY; In the Painter’s Studio, Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, MA; Inside the Painter’s Studio, Byron C. Cohen Gallery Kansas City, MO
2007: Joe Fig: Studio in Miniature, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY; Joe Fig: Studio Visit, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
2006: Studio Visit, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA; Artist Studios: Paintings, Photographs, and Sculpture, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY; New Work, Plus Ultra Gallery, New York, NY
2005: Artist Studios: Paintings, Photographs, and Sculpture, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL
2004: Paintings, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Pop, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
2003: Contemporaries, Plus Ultra Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2002: ScopeMiami, Plus Ultra Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
2001: Work in Progress, Plus Ultra Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Group Exhibitions
2015: Feel Big Live Small, apexart, New York, NY; Far Far Away, Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York, NY; The Miniature, Grunwald Gallery of Art, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN; House, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
2014: Olympus Photography Playground, Jack in the Box, Cologne, Germany
2013: Inside the Artists’ Studios: Small-Scale Views, The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT; A Sense of Place, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
2012: Redux, Cristin Tierney, New York, NY; The Persistence of Pollock, Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, NY; Painting is History, Winkleman Gallery, New York, NY; Otherworldly, Musée des Beaux-Arts Eugene Leroy, Tourcoing, France
2011: Otherworldly, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY; By the Sea, Cristin Tierney, New York, NY; American Portraits: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY; Small Worlds, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
2010: Narcissus in the Studio: Artist Portraits and Self Portraits, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Single Lady, Jenny Salomon, Brooklyn, NY; Size Does Matter, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY
2009: Picturing the Studio, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Faces, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL; Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH; Contemporary Art and Portraiture, Cristin Tierney Fine Art, New York, NY; Themes and Variations: On the Use of Repetition in 21st Century Art, Cristin Tierney Fine Art, New York, NY
2007: Jackson, Contemporary Art Galleries, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT; Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts & Letters, New York, NY
2006: Model Citizen, Artspace, New Haven, CT
2005: Next Wave, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY; Precious Little, Albany International Airport Gallery, Albany, NY
2004: Beginning Here: 101 Ways, Visual Arts Gallery, NY; Slice and Dice, Visual Arts Gallery, NY; A Stereoscopic Vision, Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) Brooklyn, NY; Ace Invitational, Ace Gallery Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; The Sixth Annual Altoids Curiously Strong Collection, (touring exhibition: New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; The Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA; Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX; Consolidated Works, Seattle, WA)
2003: AIM 23, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY; Review / Preview, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA; Inside Out, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2002: Artoy, Gallery Mouri, Tokyo, Japan; Art New York, Kunstraume Auf Zeit Gallery, Linz, Austria; Inspiring Narratives, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA; All You Can Eat, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2001: Project Room, P.S.1/MoMA, Long Island City, NY
Publications
Fig, Joe. Inside the Artist’s Studio. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2015.
Manco, Tristan. Big Art / Small Art. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014.
Cozzolino, Robert. Narcissus in the Studio: Artist Portraits and Self-Portraits. Philadelphia, PA: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2010.
Fig, Joe. Inside the Painter’s Studio. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
Awards
2014: Connecticut Council on the Arts, Artist Fellowship Program
2002: AIM: Artists in the Market Place, Bronx Museum of the Arts; The Space Program, Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation; Paula Rhodes Memorial Award, School of Visual Art
Public Collections
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Altoids Curiously Strong Collection, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
