A wag once said, “Inspiration is the act of drawing the chair up to the writing table.”  Such an enlightened utterance might just as well apply to the artist Joe Fig’s recent book, “Inside the Painter’s Studio”. Perhaps it was to discover whether inspiration was indeed hard work that Fig devoted himself to visiting the studios of fifty plus artists (most in the New York area) since 2002. After all, could there be any better way to learn the secrets behind visual creativity than conducting voyeuristic visits of established artists? Visiting artists’ studios as a project is not new. A good example of such an endeavor can be seen in the 2004 book, “Inside the Studio,” the result of a large compilation of studio visits to over 200 artists by the Independent Curators International (ICI) that began in 1981. Three of the artists in Fig’s book — Gregory Amenoff, Chuck Close and Fred Tomaselli– also appear in the ICI book.  Yet another recent publication, “The Studio Reader–on the Space of Artists” from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has also picked up the gauntlet on this subject. But each of these books has a different focus. Fig is interested in the nuts and bolts of the studio life, ICI wants to know each artist’s mental, emotional and historical thoughts, and the Art Institute of Chicago is a collection of various topics on the studio from the standpoint of artists as well as art historians, critics, and curators.

To make the visit more than just a pass-through, Fig constructed a small model of each studio visited; some even include a figure of the artist at work. As he states, it was a continuation of a study he undertook  “…on artistic process and the myth of the sacred studio space…” Each model is meticulously constructed to the point that one is often fooled into believing that the picture of the studio model seen in the book is an actual photograph of the studio.

For Fig, it all started when he paid a visit to the studio of the second-generation abstract expressionist Michael Goldberg in the same studio space once used by Mark Rothko. It was a pivotal experience for Fig who greatly regretted that he had failed to record his visit.  He vowed that this would never happen again. Fig prepared his future studio visits as if he were undertaking an expedition.  He established no fewer than eighteen questions that he would ask each artist during his visits. The questions have the artist reader in mind; providing a quick fix for any self-imposed solitary confinement artists who don’t get around to other artist’s studios.

The questions are generally quite specific such as, when do the artists wake up and when do they actually start working? What do they wear? Do they listen to music or the radio? How many paintings do they work on at one time? What specific paint brands does the artist use? How often do they clean their studios? How do they organize their space and worktable? The last two questions, also rather specific, were whether they had a motto or creed that they lived by and what advice would they give to an artist just starting out.

The answers to these questions offer much insight. Most of the artists have separate studios of adequate space and are not where they live.  Most of the artists, no surprise here, listen to music or the radio; in fact four of them listen to NPR. Slightly more artists work on more than one canvas at a time.

At least eight of the artists use Williamsburg paints, a highly pigment-rich paint. And what fun to learn that the artist Inka Essenhigh’s favorite color is one that I personally hold sacred in my own paint box, Williamsburg’s Green Gold. The next most popular paint (used by five artists) was Old Holland, another pigment-rich paint.

Probably the greatest insight was that, with the exception of two artists, they go to work in the morning, work the entire day and sometimes into the evening. In fact, four of the artists worked seven days a week.  However, the two late risers, (like myself) Dana Schutz and Amy Sillman, still ended up putting in just as many hours as all of the early birds.  Because all the artists in the book are represented by a gallery or two and have to meet show deadlines, it’s not surprising to find them putting in long hours in their studios.

Most of the studios were meticulously or adequately neat and clean. Only five studios fit into a messy category. Was it a coincidence that our two night owls, Schutz and Sillman, were among these? Sillman said to Fig, “…Because you were coming, I tidied up.” Schutz, on the other hand, told him that, “…I feel bad when people come in because they always get paint on themselves…”

The last two questions provide the reader much insight, none more than for the working artist, if only as a reality check to live by in their own studio.

GREGORY AMENOFF – “…I believe in the fraternity and sorority of artists supporting each other and creating opportunities for each other…don’t wait around for the dealers and the curators to come to you.”

ROSS BLECHNER – “The ones that are going to persist are the ones who are going to be artists, even if they are much less talented.”

CHUCK CLOSE – “Inspiration is for amateurs-the rest of us just show up and get to work.”

ERIC FISCHL – “The art world senses where there is a hot spot…” “…members of a peer group help each other; one gets a gallery, they tell the gallery, ‘Oh, you got to check out so-and-so’s work’.”

JANE HAMMOND – “…If you keep yourself interested, you’re gonna keep everyone else interested. Too many people are too lazy about that, I think. I want it to continually change and unfold and surprise me too.”

BILL JENSEN – “Artists made the idea of what heaven and hell looked like. We have the same kind of job today.”

RYAN McGINNESS – “…to not worry about being an artist or trying to make art, just kind of make whatever you have to make, and then build a life around that.”

MALCOLM MORLEY – “…there’s no such thing as a ‘professional artist’. There’s an artist who’s turned his endeavor into a vocation…”

STEVE MUMFORD – “…to be truthful to themselves. I think the worst thing for an artist to do–ever–is to paint what they think other people want them to paint or what the market wants them to paint.”

MATTHEW RITCHIE – “Quality control is really what you’re doing. You know, you are looking at it, you are checking it out. Then you’re going “Naa, not good enough…It needs x or y.”

JAMES SIENA – “Artists who emerge from the world of the unknowns into the world of the known generally are first very well known among other artists…so support your peers, don’t go knocking on William de Kooning’s back door…He’s busy!”

JOAN SNYDER – “Just be in your studio and work and not be worried about the art world.”

At the end of the book, Joe Fig interviews himself and gives this advice  “…always be working. You can’t just sit there staring at the walls waiting for inspiration. Creative thoughts come while you are creating…”