Page 25 - Reside Magazine Lusk Associates

Reside — Spring 2025
ARTISTIC
HABITATS
Going inside the
celebrated creatives, H
private abodes of
a new book
explores whether kitchen look like? Were they the type to cook lavish dinners for dynamic groups
home is where
the art is, writes
Laura May Todd
ouse museums have long been a source of fascination—and
they offer an intimate snapshot of the daily workings of people
even infatuation—for visitors. Like a frozen-in-time shrine,
whose lives are often shrouded in intrigue, from writers and
actors to artists and designers. But they also answer the
somewhat nosy question of how celebrated figures really lived:
what kind of tchotchkes did they keep on their mantel? What does their
of friends and acquaintances? Or were they the sort who only used the oven
to store books? These things can tell you a lot about a person.
In the foreword to the new book “Inside the Homes of Artists: For Art’s
Sake,” published by Rizzoli, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist confesses a similar
passion for house museums. He writes of visiting 19th-century painter Gustave
Moreau’s former home in Paris: “[It] was a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ [total work of
art], full of Moreau’s drawings and collections. It was like looking into the
mind of the artist, enabling me to start to understand his way of thinking.”
While house museums allow us a glimpse into the minds and habits of artists
long gone, to have the opportunity to peek behind the curtain into the inner
workings of artists currently at the top of their creative game is so much
more riveting. This book—written by art collector Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian—
does exactly that, inviting the reader into the private domains and studios of
24 of the most prolific artists working today.
For all of these artists, the home plays a pivotal role in their practice:
as a staging ground for in-process works; a compendium of inspirations
and objects to be referenced; and often as an archive of rough drafts
or discarded ideas. Some have filled their home with their own art, such as the
Los Angeles-based French artist Claire Tabouret, known for her evocative,
figurative paintings, often highlighted with fluorescent shades. Between the
antique wooden ceiling beams of her 1920s cottage in the neighborhood
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