Welcome to the 283rd installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists relish the limitations of their studios and find clarity in sunlight coming through the window.
Want to take part? Check out our submission guidelines and share a bit about your studio with us through this form! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio.
Tamo Jugeli, Long Island, New York
How long have you been working in this space?
Three months.
Describe an average day in your studio.
An average day in the studio starts in the late afternoon. I’m not really a morning person, and I need a good amount of time after waking up before I can be productive. When I arrive at the studio, I usually sit for a while, look at the canvases, and gradually ease into the work. Once I decide to start, I just begin. I often listen to music, podcasts, work in silence, or even talk on the phone with friends; weirdly it helps distance me from the constant stream of thoughts racing through my mind, which ultimately benefits the work. I see painting as a meditative state, and creating that mental distance helps me enter it more fully.
How does the space affect your work?
I’m not exactly sure how it affects the work, but I do know that space has a big impact. That’s why, even though I love my original studio, I’m very open to traveling and painting in different spaces. I spent the last three months on Long Island, working in Amy Sillman’s studio. It was definitely challenging at first, but in the end, I feel it helped me break through — at least that’s how I see it.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
I’m influenced by everything I interact with, especially architecture, textures, the colors of the city I’m in, the energy, and the history of a place. These things settle in quietly, like dust, whether or not I’m aware of it.
What do you love about your studio?
What struck me about this particular studio was its coziness — it’s not a typical studio space. It has a character of its own. You don’t just walk in and take it over … you have to mold yourself to it, blend with it. It asks something specific of you. You become part of the studio’s rhythm, and in that negotiation, something shifts in the work.
What do you wish were different?
At first, I wished for white walls, something familiar. That’s usually how I work: upright, clean, organized. But in this space, the walls wouldn’t allow it. So I painted on the floor, leaned canvases against the walls and in the end, I loved it. I wouldn’t change a thing. The limitations became part of the language. I could never fully see the paintings clearly — the strong architectural presence of the space always interfered. I had to imagine how they would look on a white wall, which became its own kind of tease.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Oil paint, always. There is no medium more satisfying or mysterious to me.
How long have you been working in this space?
Seventeen years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
I cycle to my studio around 10 am. I make such good coffee in my studio that I’m always eager to get there. So, first coffee and reading time (I have lots of books around). Piano music helps, too, to wake up and find focus. Then I start on the artist book I’m working on; I make drawings, write texts, make collages, or print on my 120-year-old Boston platen press. The presence of this press in my studio feels like a quiet and loyal friend, almost like an old dog’s proximity.
How does the space affect your work?
It’s a bit small, but its high ceilings help me think better, and its northern light give a good cool state of clarity.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
We work with 11 artists in the studio building, which is an old school building from 1937. We chat, sometimes we visit each other’s studios. Every day I take a walk in the neighborhood as a break, and usually buy groceries. Or I visit exhibitions in museums and galleries in Utrecht.
What do you love about your studio?
I love its proportions; square but not quite. Its whiteness, its cool light. It is located under the stairwell in this old school building, and that’s why it can be a bit forgotten. It has large windows and I look at the sky a lot.
What do you wish were different?
A bit larger would be so great.
What is your favorite local museum?
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Ink!
Credit: hyperallergic.com
