Mike & Doug Starn – Studio Visit

Last week, we had the opportunity to look around at the Starn studio in beautiful Beacon, NY. It was one of those experiences that is not easily forgotten. The building is approximately the same square footage as an American football field and filled with work in various stages of development. The director of the studio, Gaudéricq Robiliard, showed us around and explained the various experimental processes that are currently being used in the two and three dimensional artworks.

A piece of Big Bambú engaged a large part of the studio. The huge sculpture is comprised of more than 2500 strips of bamboo lashed together with nylon mountain climbing rope. The piece changes often as lengths are unattached and reattached elsewhere moving the behemoth structure in a slow, cascading manner. The rest of Big Bambú is currently occupying the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art overlooking New York City’s Central Park through October 31st. This is one artwork that you must see.

There is a constant buzz of activity that envelops visitors to this place. The inherited space has a raw, industrial feel that is completely overshadowed by the warmth of creativity and workspace ingenuity. The harsh warehouse lighting has been dispersed by hanging large white semitransparent textiles. This sort of handmade feel to the functional furnishings pervade the interior design and predicate a sense of the practical genius that is at work. We took tons of pictures so that you may share in the amazing experience.

Be sure to click through for many more photographs.