The Art of Living

To artists and designers, a home is a canvas on which they can project themselves, a testing ground for creative impulses, a place to display the objects that inspire them, a venue for experimentation with forms and materials that later appear in their own work. In this unique volume, photographer Barbel Miebach captures the unique spirit of the private living quarters of twenty-five internationally known figures including Ellsworth Kelly, Catherine Malandrino, Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, Andres Serrano, Hunt Slonem, Vivienne Tam, and Andrea Zittel.

From self-designed, floor-to-ceiling trompe l'oeil tile in quirky color combinations to renovations of urban lofts as Japanese farmhouses to pristine all-white spaces, sixteenth-century cathedrals, and a bold apartment that takes design cues and motifs directly from the vibrant colors and brash metallic forms of the inhabitant's own artwork, each of the featured homes provides an inside look at the personalities behind these unconventional dwellings. Equally intriguing are homes of artists and gallery owners who have spent a lifetime collecting works by artistic friends, priceless examples of art and furniture from a favorite period, or artifacts from far-flung continents during their own wide-ranging travels. Still other spaces reveal how the imaginations of architects are interpreted in black concrete, copper, zinc, and brightly painted plywood when they turn their energies to designing houses for themselves and their families.

Over 200 color images reveal a wealth of unique, personal approaches to the challenge of incorporating creative space into a home. Of interest to anyone who has wondered what the living rooms and studios of famous artists might contain, what objects inspire them, and what inventive solutions they devise to create expressive personal spaces in a domestic atmosphere, The Art of Living provides a colorful, varied look at a group of diverse artistic individuals who live and work in homes from New York and the Hamptons to Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert.

Photographer Barbel Miebach was born near Cologne, Germany, and has lived in NewYork since 1998. Her images have appeared in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Interior Design magazine, and the New York Times. Her other books include Inspired Styles.

Journalist Claudia Steinberg writes on art, health, literature, and interior design, and her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Surface, and Interior Design magazine, among other publications.