Abstract

A great number of books bear titles such as Inside the Artist’s Studio and Artists in Their Studios. However, these books mostly present collections of interviews and pictures, not systematic studies of the artist and the artist’s studio. They do not address how the studio is embedded in the artist’s actual practice, how the artist’s actions turn a space into a studio or how these two processes interact and reinforce one another. This paper examines the studio and artistic practice, seeing the studio as more than a workplace where items are made, books written or music created. Instead, this paper focuses on other products, such as artistic identity; the studio as a frame or border within which the artist can create a personal world; the regulation of interaction with other artists; and the construction of the studio as laboratory in which expressive practice can flourish. These observations are drawn from ethnographic research of artists living and working in Beijing, London, New York and Zurich. The author spent several months in these locations, shadowed the artists in their studios, documented these places through pictures and conducted in-depth interviews with the artists. The analysis of this material provides a systematic account of how the studio significantly shapes the artist’s creative practice.