Henry Taylor and the Studio Visit

Henry Taylor, The Sweet William Rorex, Jr., 2010

Henry Taylor, Diana Sofia, is this you? Feeling brown is not blue, 2012, Acrylic on Canvas, 20 x 16

I've admired the work of LA based painter Henry Taylor for quite a while now.  He is able to capture an intimate narrative in his portraiture in a way few can.  So a recent video interview in his studio was a nice thing to see, as I haven't seen or read much directly from him before.  

I also really appreciate the honest way he moves through his space and makes funny anecdotal remarks about certain projects or pieces.  It is generous to allow a glimpse of such a private space,  I sort of can't help but enjoy the voyeuristic thrill of looking at his paints sitting with cologne bottles, paintings hiding behind chairs -- things he may be so used to that they seem the only way it could be but as the viewer they are hints at a unique process and practice.

 Here is the link: Henry Taylor Studio Visit

I've been thinking about the 'studio visit' a bit myself recently, having had a couple of different visits in the last month or so.  The studio is usually so private that it feels really weird to suddenly be performing social interactions within the space. 

 Most of the time, being in the studio it is a place I am barely aware of my human needs, I just do what I want.  I eat when I'm hungry, drink coffee when I'm tired, get up when I need to look from a distance, go on the computer when a painting is sucking, sigh when I feel like it, rinse, repeat. 

 There is something about other people being introduced into the space that makes me painfully aware of myself and this implied thing of seeing the artist in their 'natural habitat' that puts me into neutral mode --  I feel myself purposefully not doing anything strange, playing host and trying to appease a guest which makes the space even more foreign to both of us.  

A lot of times studio visits end up being a positive thing-- good conversation develops, a general ease back into painting mind and a new way to look at my own work.  But anyway, all that to say, this video is great and I love being on the other side of a studio visit interaction.