Welcome to the 252nd installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists pluck color schemes from their tropical surroundings, sketch sigils to calm the mind, and turn a subway commute into an artistic ritual.
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.
How long have you been working in this space?
About three years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
I usually start painting early in the morning in silence for the first hour, then make my coffee and play my playlist called studio session: 9.30 AM ICED LATTE.
How does the space affect your work?
It has big windows, which make my studio bright from natural light and allow me to be surrounded by tropical nature that inspires my colors.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
My studio is connected to my home, and my neighborhood is known as an artist village. Most of the locals are artists and craftsmen. It is a secluded area by the river. You’ll find art collectives such as sculptures, reliefs, and installation of local artists which are connected to the local cultures, histories, and surrounding nature. And living in such community really is inspiring.
What do you wish were different?
I wish I could have at least one solid wall for hanging my paintings. And I wish the weather could be dryer for less mold maintenance.
What is your favorite local museum?
Agung Rai Museum of Art and Tony Raka Gallery. Although I wish Bali in general could have more contemporary art museums.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
I honestly love oil paints, but because my colors are mostly fluorescent I work more with acrylic.
How long have you been working in this space?
Two months.
Describe an average day in your studio.
My routine is in constant flux depending on what I’ve done the previous day and on my overall scheduling. I try to treat my time in the studio like a job and lock in time spent there for as long as I can, whenever I can. I used to only work on one image at a time, but this larger space at Nars Foundation has allowed me to work on several pieces in tandem and also to go larger in scale. Generally, I will listen to music while I work — however, I have been known to crush entire TV show seasons while working. I find this too comes through in whatever you’re creating. And cryptic messages and shapes will end up bleeding out into your work.
How does the space affect your work?
I’m working as part of a residency right now, so this space is only temporary for me. It’s much larger than my space at home. The experience of beginning with literally a white cube was actually very cathartic. I feel this new body of work was able to develop in an entirely fresh way, unbound to previous stylistic tropes I might have fallen into in my studio back in Australia. I love to really fill a space and transform it, and this residency allowed me to push my practice and challenge myself.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
The D train trip to Sunset Park is a bit far from where I’m living right now, so the pilgrimage to the studio becomes part of the overall daily rituals. Not to mention that my studio is on the fourth floor of a big industrial walk-up. When I first came here, I nearly perished as it was during a heatwave. But since then, all of this has just become part of the experience of working within this particular studio. In some ways, it mirrors the art world (and perhaps overall life, lol): If you want to make art in the studio, you have to work hard to even literally get there.
What do you love about your studio?
At Nars I’ve been blessed with a really large studio that’s right next to the sinks and amenities, making it well positioned. It also has larger ceilings on one side, so there’s a perfect wall to “mock hang” and see the works away from the other walls you produced them on.
What do you wish were different?
The studio itself has no natural light. Although I do love getting to utilize the four walls completely, it would be grounding to have a window to the outside world as you can tend to get too “in your own head” under the fluorescent light.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
That’s a hard one. As my practice is forever changing, so too are the materials I choose. I move from painting to sculpture to ceramics to drawing to fabric-stitching to upholstery. So to limit myself to one material seems reductive. Perhaps air is my favorite material.
Celeste Viv Ly, Brooklyn, New York and London, UK
How long have you been working in this space?
Three months in Brooklyn and two years in London.
Describe an average day in your studio.
An average day in my studio is quite fluid. I usually start in late morning and work late into the night, while the afternoons and early evenings are frequently for working in makerspaces and workshops outside or seeing shows, events, and visits. I recently got into the habit of drawing sigils as a ritual when I need to refocus or transition between states of mind. I listen to myriad materials when I work, including Spotify playlists based on vibes and narratives, podcasts, Soundcloud algorithmic queues in neo-trance, techno glitchcore, deconstructed electronics, and YouTube post-apocalyptic ambient soundscapes.
How does the space affect your work?
It makes me bring more focus to the analog aspects of producing time-based and media art projects, as the size of the space allows me to physically expand and explore further.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio
I have a studio at a Brooklyn-based art residency, where I have a community of locally and internationally based artists in diverse disciplines around me. I’m immersed in the residency community as we frequently hang out in the studios and go to events together.
What do you love about your studio?
Large space, good ventilation, private studio space, a community of residency artists working in a range of mediums and research interests in Brooklyn; a floor-to-ceiling window, communal shared studio spaces, and natural lighting in London.
What is your favorite local museum?
Conjuring Arts Research Center in Manhattan.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Antimony.
