Studio 312

From the space in which van Gogh disposed of his own ear to Warhol’s famous Silver Factory, the artist’s studio has long been subjected to romantic speculation. Are these dens of creativity truly, as was recently described by the Guardian Unlimited, “a faithful reflection of the soul of the artist”? Is this widespread image of studio-as-artistic-incubator accurate? And, with so many creative individuals now using a MacBook as their medium, is the formal artist’s studio still even relevant?

This month, Chicagoans will have the opportunity to decide for themselves when Production Site: The Artist’s Studio Inside-Out, an ambitious exhibition featuring work from a variety of artists, opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The works that comprise Production Site include photos, video, multi-day performances, sprawling installations and life-sized reproductions of artists’ studios, establishing these spaces in real time while simultaneously capitalizing on the sensationalism and mysticism associated with these workrooms.

“My first understanding of artists’ studios was based not on visits to actual spaces, but on what I gleaned from films like Scorsese’s New York Stories,” says MCA curator Dominic Molon. “A crossroad of experimentation and parties blown to mythic proportions by media and imagination—some artists have appropriated this wild image of socializing and partying, but for many the studio is a place of business.”

A mix of both new and existing works, Production Site invokes the studio space, paradoxically staging developmental spaces within the confines of the museum. Art star and Chicago resident Deb Sokolow, famed for her humorously sprawling story lines and incorporation of local topics, has been commissioned to create a large-scale floor plan of her studio detailing semi-factual activity within the space and surrounding neighborhood. This evolving installation, stationed on the MCA’s front lobby wall, will begin this month and continue developing throughout the duration of the show.

Other Chicago artists represented in Production Site include John Neff, MacArthur genius grant recipient Kerry James Marshall and former Chicagoan Amanda Ross-Ho, who cut up the walls of her old studio to use them as not only sculptural material, but also as a collage of her previous works, pictorially documenting her past creations through the remnants and splatters on her former space’s walls.

Equally exciting but drastically different is the two-day performance of Indian artist Nikhil Chopra, who will take on the characters of various artists and draftsmen from the 19th century, creating a living gallery space while audiences watch. Chopra’s elaborate transformations incorporate any number of costumes and props, all of which will be left within the space following his performance’s conclusion, creating a tangible record of his presence.

In a time when cell phones and laptops are taking the place of these essential spaces, Molon hopes Production Site will offer audiences a layered, realistic understanding of what studios actually are and how they function in a pragmatic way. Pragmatic? Well, maybe. Quixotic? Definitely. Between multi-channel video projections and photographic light-boxes, the realism of the studio is muddled as it is transformed into its own artistic entity. The end result, however, is phenomenal and grand in size. If, as one London journalist said, the studio is truly a reflection of an artist, then Production Site will surely take audiences through the looking glass.

Production Site: The Artist’s Studio Inside-Out open now at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., 312.280.2660, mca.org.