Alex Katz has never been one to assign narrative to his work. The artist has committed a wide range of characters to the canvas over his seven-decade career: his wife of 67 years, New York’s beau monde, modern dancers, even idling vacationers. But he’s always opted for style over story, preferring to dwell on the crease of a garment or glare of sunglasses rather than the portent of an expression or the personal life of a subject.
It is perhaps this interest in the surfaces of existence that drew him to The White Lotus (at least for part of an episode), the television series that lends its name to his latest show. On view at Gray Chicago through Sept. 20, the body of work has indeed only a superficial connection to Mike White’s biting anthology; its blown-up faces and cool glances originated on a beach in Maine, where Katz has had a home since 1954, by way of Antonioni’s L’Avventura. Other cinematic paintings of the artist’s are on view at SCAI Piramide in Tokyo and San Diego’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and Gladstone Gallery will dedicate an exhibition to a suite of his orange abstractions, the first of which were shown in a duo show with Matthew Barney at O’Flaherty’s in 2024, this fall.
In the midst of it all, CULTURED checked in with the towering figure in American art to see what his studio practice looks like these days.
You’ve made a career out of portraying people and landscapes associated with leisure and contemplation. In a world that feels increasingly hostile, stratified, and dispiriting, have you ever considered turning to other subject matter?
I paint for my temperament. I couldn’t paint from Pollock’s or de Kooning’s temperament. You relate to different things, and they relate to you. When I saw a Veronese at the Louvre, I could relate to the power and the proficiency of the painting, and the solidity, which Pollock and de Kooning don’t have. The Goya in the Louvre has a tenderness I could relate to that they also lack.
What’s the first thing you do when you enter your studio?
Look at what I’ve done.
What’s on your studio playlist?
I like jazz, Miles Davis, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. I’ve been listening to Sonny Rollins’s The Complete Prestige Recordings this summer.
If you could have a studio visit with one artist, dead or alive, who would it be?
Fra Angelico. He seems so sophisticated.
What’s the biggest studio mishap you’ve experienced?
I was painting on a 12-by-30-foot painting, and I used the wrong jar of paint on the face! The face turned out pretty good with the wrong paint, so I continued to paint the painting.
Have you ever destroyed a work to make something new?
I destroyed 1,000 paintings. I destroyed a painting once and much later I got a reproduction of it and repainted it. It turned out a little better than the original.
When was the last time you felt jealous of another artist?
I don’t think I’ve ever felt jealous of another artist. At certain times, other artists seem better than I am, but I’ve never felt jealous.
Have you ever wanted to give up on being an artist? Why didn’t you?
When I was around 30, I hit bottom. My mother told me, “You’re either an artist or a phony. Your personal life doesn’t matter.”
What’s the most exciting thing about being an artist today?
I have proven that I was right. And the people who disliked me or wouldn’t talk to me or gave me bad reviews were wrong.
Listen to Alex Katz’s Studio Playlist
in your life?
