My visit to Julian Schnabel’s home and studio in New York’s West Village offered me a true reflection of the multifaceted talents of one of the world’s most famous artists. Palazzo Chupi is a residential condominium building designed by Julian Schnabel in the style of a Northern Italian palazzo, built on top of a former horse stable. The name is taken from the trendy Spanish lollipop called “Chupa Chups”. Julian Schnabel used Chupi as a pet name for his second wife Olatz López Garmendia.
 
Ever since his first solo exhibition at the Mary Boone gallery in 1979, Schnabel has forged a singular pictorial language, embracing unconventional methods and materials. From his earliest works, he has broken with the prevailing paradigm of Conceptual Art by forming a unique artistic practice that has embraced figuration, personal narratives and historical and mythological references. Presenting a challenge to the notion that there is any difference between figurative and abstract painting, Schnabel has established his work on an infinite exploration of different ways of putting paint on a pictorial surface. His influence is widely visible but rarely cited. You can see it echoed in the work of artists from Joe Bradley to Oscar Murillo and all kinds of painters who wish to emphasise chance or accident and who like to work big, using unconventional materials.

 Copyright 2014 Mart Engelen