It was about sucking up to collectors and trying to sell for the highest prices. ![]() Because the model that was set for me when I was younger, it wasn’t a healthy model. I want to open up my studio to be able to do open critiques with other artists out there and really try to set a model. I want to teach that to a younger generation eventually. It’s something that I want to share with other artists. For the first time, I feel like a real artist. And without that pressure it really creates a freedom for me. I don’t need to be making art sales to keep my studio or my business alive. I don’t have a humongous overhead on my studio and my apartment. Especially living out here, the money that I spend day to day is significantly less than it was in the city. ![]() Generating sales is not really the most important thing for me. So do you feel like you’re giving something up by not being around? It was about the idea of a volcano, and the creation of land, and its relevance to landscape. It wasn’t necessarily about me wanting to go to these places. So some of the last paintings that I made were of volcano eruptions. I’m maybe painting views of things, places that I wish I could travel to but I can’t, and then also places that have a more conceptual significance. I live here, but I’m not necessarily going out to the bluff painting that view. So you’re in the countryside and painting other countrysides from your phone.Īlso publications, magazines, and books. But most of the images that I paint from today are from photographs. So they actually had to travel to the countryside to find these picturesque settings. The reproduction of images wasn’t as accessible as it is now. But back in the 19th century, they didn’t have that. We’re constantly looking at images to try to teleport ourselves from whatever situation we currently are in. With the Internet and phones today, there’s this thing about escapism. I wrote an essay that I published called “ The Accidental Tourist,” which is kind of about the evolution of this process. Yeah, but I don’t necessarily consider myself an impressionist or plein air painter. As guys sitting out in fields with canvases. I mean, it resonates with this old school, 19th-century idea of how we understand painters. Which is why I’ve spent most of my time going on trips and photographing and developing interests that bleed into what I’m painting. Lately, I’ve just understood that if my time here is limited, I should enjoy my experience, enjoy nature, and enjoy people. If nothing matters, then what’s the point of making anything? To satisfy some art market? Or is it because I take pleasure in making paintings? I’ve been trying to understand what the point is. It connects to my exodus of moving out here, which also has a lot to do with an existential crisis about trying to figure out why I even make art. In what ways does nature inspire your work? Your recent work focuses a lot on landscape. It all kind of just came to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m not interested in being a Dash Snow or a Dan Colen. I’m not interested in being a New York art star. After the first four years of me showing, it became evident to me. And I was subscribing to this idea of what a New York City artist was that was really pretentious and unhealthy. I realized that everyone in the city is trying to be famous or something. ![]() But at a certain point it became really counterproductive. When I was younger and going to college, New York City was a good place for me to meet other artists and get inspired. I mainly began coming out to Montauk because I was sick of the city. But, as a young contemporary artist, you’ve gravitated towards spending your time in the countryside. ![]() We normally think of cities as the place where modernity happens. Explore more of Lucien’s artwork and portfolio over on his website. Find our favorite excerpts from the conversation below and read the full piece over at SSENSE.
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