Work Spaces & Studios

In my dream home I have an entire room filled with plants and backdrops, easels and drawing desks. I’d be able to paint large murals, draw at the desk, photograph and build worlds, giant shells a la Méliés “Under the Sea” and giant forests. I’d have a space set aside like a small cafe in Paris, Morocco or Mexico City where I could do small drawing and design on my computer. My current work is design focused and consists of many hand drawn parts, scanned and built up into layered pieces. When I moved into my current place I imagined days at my desk with breaks on the chaise lounge or staring out the window onto the lake cup of coffee in hand.

I wanted to highlight past and present work as well as my connections to other artists. One of the Ogilala posters I designed for William Patrick Corgan’s solo tour 2017 next to Wes Freed’s depiction of me for the Drive by Trucker’s Valentine’s show in 2011. Wes passed away three years ago and I’m forever grateful for his friendship and generosity. There’s also a few Tropical Goth prints, an internet friend turned IRL.

Taylor Mead’s “The Flower Thief” was given to me by his niece Priscilla after he died. She gave me the shirt he was wearing in the image as well. Taylor was a huge part of my life in NYC and after his death I began to feel like it was my time to depart as well. I photographed Taylor with Anton Perich at Bowery Poetry Club while it was still open.

Various Madame Zuzus stickers and drawings of the starburst and DMX cover the pinboard as well as cups and tea samplers. I have some stickers from Vondré who I worked with on their “Muy Mal” video and a drawing and stickers from Lady Love . As I venture more into product design I’ve been interested in how designs are developed. I always aim to create beauty. I dream of cabinets filled with beautiful canisters, bags, labels and boxes which is probably why I keep paint brushes in beloved coffee cans.

My home is filled with art, both my own and friends. Daria Hlazatova’s portrait of me hangs above the chaise lounge, a gift from Vanessa Sinclair along with a vintage piece from the historical archives of Albany NY given to me by an ex. Mystique by Janet Hill hangs below with one of my own pillow designs yet to be released. I wanted to create an environment that was both conducive to work but also to rest, enjoyment, beauty and inspiration.

In 2014 MOMA’s exhibit “A World of Its Own: Photographic Practices in the Studio” gave insight into what happened behind the scenes in a studio and how the studio itself becomes the stage. Gagosian gallery exhibited “In the Studio” in 2015 featured both photography and painting studios with images dating from 1856 through the twentieth century. It explored themes of studio as workshop, gallery space, stage, and aesthetic. In some the studio space was photographed as an art piece on ts own, in others the podium in which the artist stands, the world they create to create. In others’s artists photographed their colleagues space or in their space. I love seeing artists in their studios. I love self portraits in them, small snippets of everyday life.

My studio 2020-2022, Gold Coast Chicago.

Mural I painted on the floor in the Gold Coast.

Created in my studio apartment 2020 in Edgewater Chicago for Carbonbloc. The entire apartment became my working studio.

Below are a few of my favorite studios.

Brilliant artist and friend Molly Crabapple’s work space. Photographed for Document Journal 2023

Jean Michael Basquiat’s studio on Crosby St NYC 1983 by Roland Hagenberg.

Francis Bacon’s studio by Perry Ogden.

Weegee’s studio.

I took these of Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera’s studio space.

Francesca Woodman in her studio.

In the case of William S Burroughs sometimes your workspace is wherever you set up, whether at the kitchen table while compiling the Yage letters or the Bunker on Bowery or even at the Beat Hotel in Paris.

I would love to see your studio and workspaces whether it’s a cafe, the bedroom, a corner of a table or a giant loft. Feel free to share yours in the comments.