Studio series

The studio is a central theme in these works. The most recent paintings (2019) are based on simulated views of the artist’s own studio generated with 3D modelling software. The virtual model serves as an endlessly manipulable space, enabling cutaway views and perspectives that would be impossible within the studio itself. Technology is used to produce novel encounters with an otherwise familiar setting. Particularly from the nineteenth century onwards, the pictorial tradition of representing views of studios typically reflects the cult of the artist as genius that became prevalent in the Romantic era, perpetuating the myth of the studio as an inner sanctum of heroic, solitary, masculine labour. While it is common to interpret an artist’s studio as an expression of the occupant’s persona, these recent paintings resist this analysis by portraying the studio as a vacant space of ambiguous purpose and with scant signs of habitation. The studio is not merely a passive backdrop for the artist’s identity, but an autonomous model with an instrumental role in the paintings.

Informed by research into posthumously reconstructed artists’ studios, many of the other works shown here reference the studios of Francis Bacon and Giorgio Morandi. The paintings of Bacon’s studio form part of a research project investigating various aspects of the studio now reconstructed in Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane, with a particular focus on the artist’s circular mirror. The drawings and paintings of Morandi’s studio are based on a 1:15 scale model interior of his Bolognese bedroom studio, allowing limitless configurations and perspectives for pictorial interpretations. The miniature replica objects, furniture and personal effects are not fixed in place. Likewise, the ceiling and each of the walls are removable, facilitating an exploration of the peripheral and ambient space of the 20th century Italian artist’s still life paintings. Here, the vestiges of Morandi’s life become a still life; a prop to explore the boundaries between object and image, private and public, authenticity and artifice.