Larry Bell in his Venice Beach Studio// Francesco Clemente in Brooklyn (Greenpoint by the East River)// John Currin in his Flatiron district studio// Sterling Ruby in the courtyard of his Vernon Califonia LA studio// Nancy Holt taking a stroll in Galisteo (next to the Adobe style wall)

Larry Bell
We visited Larry Bell on several occasions both in California and in New Mexico. Larry is a legendary and leading exponent of the Californian ” Light and Space” movement, as well as an artist who still to this day signs off his emails with the words ‘Peace and Love!’ Larry’s creative ideas are often sparked during his marathon 15-hour car journeys driving from his Venice Beach workplace to his other studio in Taos. He’s been doing this route alone for many years, accompanied by his best mate, his dog Pinky. In Taos, I had fun experimenting with Larry’s magical Time Machine. The piece allows two people seated and facing each other (on either side of his coated mirror) to have their images transposed, as if melding together. I had a good laugh when I saw my “ blended “ image with that of Larry ‘s: he was sporting my red dress, and I was wearing his famous Trilby hat while chomping on his favorite Nicaraguan Cigar!

It was fascinating to watch the artist at work with his massive, self-engineered high vacuum thermal evaporator machine.  The circular chamber heats and vaporizes metal filaments onto Mylar or paper. The result: miraculous luminescent-coated surfaces collaged by the magic hand of the Creator into gorgeous “vapor drawings.”

Sterling Ruby
One aspect of our ” American journey” (original intended name for the book) which I for one will never forget is the sheer size of the American creative genius (matching its territory), grand in vision, grand in spirit and grand in scope. One such example of SIZE was experienced whilst we visited Sterling Ruby at his workplace in East LA – in Vernon, California, situated next to a disused railway track. At the time, he was preparing for a move into a newly acquired 92 000 square feet studio spread on 4 acres of land, previously an automotive workshop!

His then current space was not too shabby either… A former bubble wrap factory housing a cavernous complex web of outdoor and indoor workshops devoted to his works in collage, ceramics, spray paintings, poured urethane “stalagmite” structures and woodwork. The place was perfect for the sheer scale of all his monumental artworks, some of which deal with issues of urban demarcation and gang culture. Sporting his Indiana Jones-style hat and cowboy boots, Sterling explained that, “the greatest thing about LA is that I get to work outside pretty much every day of the year!”

Francesco Clemente
We caught Francesco on his return from India, visiting him at his recently built Greenpoint, Brooklyn studio that he’s occupied for the last five years. The spacious building is situated right next to the East River, where the artist often takes a stroll to clear his head and get a view across the river onto the city.

The top floor, his strictly private space for meditation, rest and contemplation, is filled with natural light streaming from skylights and generous windows. This “observation space” is adorned with a Jean Prouve hospital bed and Frank Gehry furniture. On the mezzanine, we encountered relics from his past lives: a miniature train set nestled next to a playing deck from one of Francesco’s favorite 1990s haunts, Jackie 60, the epitome of NY creative nightlife at the time. On the ground floor, his workspace: one wall covered with self-portraits and another housing a massive floor to ceiling art library. On the floor itself (where Francesco tends to paint on his knees,) his brushes and paint pots perfectly organized and meticulously laid out in physical order next to his current canvas.

Francesco’s other space is located in Noho, a studio he has had for over 30 years. In his own words, he has “more of his past parked there than any other space.” It is a true Aladdin’s cavern filled with paintings and photographs of friends and family: his beautiful wife Alba, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg among others, adorning the walls. Indian inspired paper cuttings are haphazardly spread across the large wooden beamed floors whilst a Buddhist altar serves as his meditation corner.  Most memorable of all, and quietly resting on a piano, which has no doubt seen more than its fair share of parties and fun gatherings over the years, is a large sculpted replica of an LSD molecule.

John Currin
We visited John Currin in his loft studio in the NY Flatiron district, a short walk from the Gramercy Park townhouse that he shares with his wife and muse, the statuesque and talented artist, Rachel Feinstein. Currin, who is 6 feet 3 inch tall and is known for his sardonic wit and suave manners, graciously met us whilst fighting off a bad case of flu.

Currin’s light filled workspace featured his easels set against scattered body parts of male and female mannequins. He prefers to prime his own canvases, allowing them to dry for a full year before use.  He has owned his palette knife since he was 25, whilst his hog-bristle brushes are bought in competition with his buddy Richard Philips.

His inspiration often emanates from vintage pinups in old magazines and old erotic books … piled up high on various surfaces, while a redheaded mannequin’s hair is often styled by the artist’s own professional hairstylist, often adorned with fabric flowers. The space, which also holds a number of Louis Style chaise lounges used by his sitters, taffeta remnants and silver wax dripped candle holders, blends elements of the new with the feel of an old world atelier, a sentiment which is faithfully reproduced in Currin’s intricate carnal female portraits.

Nancy Holt
First day in New Mexico and we made straight for Abiquiu, a pilgrimage to Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch, sacred art ground and the famous artist’s working space-come-studio.  But the area was fenced off, forbidden to intruders and unwelcome art-pilgrims, sold into the slavery of commerce where some banal pottery group was testing the limits of their creativity!

What to do? We had to in fact become trespassers, breakers of the local law, bound to be hung from the first yardarm or handy cacti for a death of a thousand cuts. After all, we’d come all the way from Fair England, and life is unfair, so sod it, we said! We said our prayers, paid our dues for our art sins, and even did a Native American ‘Sun Dance’ thrown in for good measure.

Thus fortified, we measured possible distances to be covered and made a dash for the Holy Ground… Except Georgia had not left us any plans or directions, and we couldn’t very well ask anybody, lest it turn out to be our last human encounter.  And, all I could think of, as we were walking down what seemed to be at the time a never ending dirt road, flanked by imposing rust colored rocks and mountains, was how incredibly brave and pioneering a woman O’Keeffe must have been to single handedly set up her ranch against this lonely, imposing natural backdrop with no one to call her neighbor for a hundred miles in either direction.

This set the tone for our visit the next day to Nancy Holt, another of American art’s true pioneering spirits from an age which seems so distant given today’s total preoccupation with glitz and glamour in the art world. We visited Nancy on her 22-acre ranch in Galisteo NM where she has lived for the last twenty years. Galisteo, a tiny 200-inhabitant village was used by Union soldiers during the Civil War as they were preparing for the battle of Glorietta Pass in 1862. The hamlet, also home to now deceased Agnes Martin, has been used in the last century as a bolt-hole for adventurous artists. The landscape seems pretty unchanged since the American Civil War, I’d wager!

A conceptual artist at heart, Nancy and her deceased husband Robert Smithson are both famous for their land art installations. The Adobe style house she occupies is situated in an area populated by bears, mountain lions, coyotes and the occasional rabbit. She describes her studio as a “sanctuary,” a place where she puts together her thoughts and where she plans her next installation. She spends a great deal of time walking in the expanse of her surrounding high desert landscape, especially in the Arroyo (dry canyon) which straddles her property, an exercise we too happily carried out with her – who needs glamour when nature provides!

Next day …we left for a humbling encounter with the imposing Rio Grande, the Gorge itself, 800 feet deep, and a place of natural wonder where the watercourse of the river follows a tectonic chasm. This was followed by a visit to German born Charlene von Heyl in the arid desert expanse centering the time-arrested town of Marfa in Texas, where James Dean filmed his Giant.  Donald Judd happens be the presiding Art God of this 1950s town, a second pilgrimage of sorts.

Art Studio America: Contemporary Artists in their Studios is published by Thames and Hudson and TransGlobe Publishing.

The book can be ordered with a 25 % discount directly from www.tgpublishingltd.com quoting code ASA01