Customer Reviews

Inside the Painter's Studio

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This book needs a little explaining: it's partly an art monograph - showing Joe Fig's artwork - and partly interviews with 24 artists, some famous and some obscure.

Joe Fig is an artist whose artwork is based upon the way other artists work. He creates sculptures and paintings showing other artists at work in their studios.

To accomplish this, he needs reference material: Fig contacts the artists, visits with them in their studios, takes pictures, and asks work- and process-related questions. Then Fig goes to his own studio to create highly realistic mini-scultpures based upon the photos and information that he gathered.

After interviewing 50+ artists for his own artwork, Fig has gathered a treasure trove of valuable information. "Inside the Painter's Studio" gathers 24 of those interviews and images that Fig took of the artist's studios, juxtaposed alongside images of the sculptures that he created based upon the photos and interviews.

Some of the artists interviewed include art world stars like Ross Bleckner, Chuck Close, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, and Philip Pearlstein. Many of the other artists I had not heard of, but enjoyed discovering their work and listening to what information they had to share.

He asked all the artists the same series of questions, including, "What kind of paints do you use?", "How long have you been in this studio?", "Do you listen to music or TV when you work?". Real nitty-gritty stuff that, as an artist, I find very interesting.

I was surprised to discover that the last two questions that he asked each artist I found the most valuable: "Do you have a motto or creed that as an artist you live by?" and "What advice would you give a young artist that is just starting out?" All of them have valuable advice to give that is really good and sincere. In fact, after I had read the book through once, I went back and just re-read those last two questions in every interview. I found them extremely helpful and inspiring.

If you are an artist, or just enjoy reading about the process of making art, I highly recommend this book.

Does this happen to you? I just bought this wonderful book "Inside the Painter's Studio" for a good friend of mine. Sure, I will undoubtedly hand it over to her at lunch today.....but I am very tempted to keep it. When I picked it up at my local indie book store, it seemed to be a fascinating book about painter's studios. Well, good enough. I knew Betzi would love it. But, when I got it home I realized the additional bonanza of discovering Joe Fig's astounding replica/mixed-media renditions of these studios. They are (gasp) ultra convincing. How does he do it? His work puts me in mind of another brilliant artist, Charles Matton, who does astounding miniature environments; often artist's studios and librairies. So, in short, the book delivers on both fronts: it is a wonderful behind-the-scenes book of interviews and insights from a selection of fascinating painters PLUS we get to see the uncanny work of Joe Fig. I just wrote a book on artist's studios, "Art-Making & Studio Spaces" (published by Quarry) and can attest that meeting with artists in their intimate work spaces is a real treat. Not only was I able to feature the work spaces of artists I had known for years - but it was a convenient "excuse" to finally meet long-admired artists like Armando Lopez of New Mexico and Fred Otnes of Connecticut. Clearly, I need my OWN copy of
"Inside the Painter's Studio" to add to my growing collection of books on artist's studios -- it is a topic that is finally getting some overdue recognition. Highly recommended, for many reasons.

This is an incredible insight to artists and how they work. A wonderful book for art lovers and even people who aren't into art that much. It's a great commentary on "workspace" in general and can be applied to all of us.

I haven't enjoyed a book about art as much as this one in a long time. There was none of the cringe-worthy chat that makes you wonder if the person writing it had actually looked at art for the pleasure of it as opposed to looking at the art as a starting point for their discussion.

I love books that explain me to myself...seriously! This book; if you are an artist, will provide for a few days of community. It's like sitting down with 20 (?) art makers and taking turns telling one another how you do stuff. It even made me realize how much I love my painting table, and my palette knife; which I have had for 18 years. Great fun and job Mr. Joe Fig.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book, because it was set up with a kind of "20 Questions" format: every interviewee had the same questions asked. I thought some of the questions sounded silly (like "What is your motto?" But as I read each interview and got further into the book, I liked it more and more.

These are all successful East Coast-based artists with really nice studios, and Mr. Fig, the interviewer, focuses his attention on particular items in the studio like the tables that each artist uses, the way they have set up or planned their studio, and each artist's typical day. Instead of showing photos of artwork, the photos show the inside of each studio, with artwork in progress or hanging on the wall.

I ended up really liking the format of the same question for each artist, it was interesting to hear how each responded (or not) to the questions and by the end I got a clear idea of what it takes for these artists to make it in their world. I wasn't familiar with all of the artists, and I liked that I had to do more research on my own to find out about each artist's artwork. It made the book feel interactive.

A HUGE bonus in this book is Joe Fig's art which is at the beginning of each chapter. He created a diorama of each artist's studio and photographed it, and they really blew me away! In fact, I didn't realize they were dioramas for the first few chapters. By the end of the book I kept going back to look at the dioramas. They are really unique and superbly done.

Highly recommended!

Joe Fig's terrific "Inside the Painter's Studio" offers readers a collection of intimate and insightful interviews with contemporary painters, a rare glimpse inside each artist's creative process and studio practice. Fig's effort is something of a latter day "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," the 1550 book written by painter and architect Giorgio Vasari. "Inside the Painter's Studio" also features many reproductions of Fig's meticulously crafted sculpture replicas of the artists' studios; Fig is a talented painter and sculptor himself. The book is a valuable addition to any painter's reference library.

Great info, funky, enlightening...great to see what other artists doing.
A great read...though some parts short on information...sure wish some of them could be longer.
Definitely something everyone is interested in. Helps with our normal curiousity of what artists do.

An art gallery is the end result of not just painting but physical displays and a painter's daily routine., Artist Joe Fig explores the working life of the professional artist in a presentation that collections over twenty artist interviews and visual documentation of their studios. It was originally intended to serve as research material but provides a powerful resource for painters who want to know how art is achieved, from coming up with titles to collaborative efforts. Any artist's library needs this.

Very inspiring book. Filled with photos of artists' studios and interviews with them...what could be better?! So many of the artists had wise things to say about making art, about the life of an artist and about being true to oneself. Seeing the small, crummy studios (as well as fabulous ones) that some of the successful artists have shows that having the perfect studio is NOT the key to making successful art.