The Studio (Ozenfant’s Studio-House by Le Corbusier, Paris, 1922), 2016, Iron and glass (Installation), 288X210X280cm
In 1922 the architect Le Corbusier built a ‘studio-house’ for his friend, the artist Amédée Ozenfant. Up until that time, the majority of artists created their work within old factory houses or improvised spaces. This building was among the first to be designed and purpose built as a studio-house in Modernist times. In many ways it represented the myth of the modern studio most successfully, and has served as an important source of inspiration for the design of live-work spaces for artists from Modernist to contemporary times.
In my work, I looked at Ozenfant’s studio and made a representation of it, by building part of its window − its essential defining feature − at a scale that is identical to the original. I created it within my own studio. My aims in doing so are to express a longing for the ‘perfect studio’, to examine questions around the relocation and transplantation of Modernist architecture as well as the balance of powers within the art world, and more.