Inspiration: Artist Mike Perry’s Studio
Artist Mike Perry got our attention when he took a pen to an Eames chair. The results were wonderful, both graphic and fun, and I felt in the real spirit of Charles and Ray Eames. There’s a joy to their designs that Perry captured in his re-invention of the classic. (By the way, the Perry chairs are for sale through Outdoorz Gallery). I contacted Perry who agreed to share his workspace with us. He’s in transition right now and is also preparing for a show but he generously took time out to shoot his space and answer a few questions.
You work from home and your studio in Brooklyn. How long have you worked from home? I don’t work from home as often as I would like to. I find that when I try and stay home and work I always will end up forgetting something that I need. As part of the renovation of our home we (Anna Wolf and I) are building a proper home office, we just purchased 2 floors of a brown stone and is a big work in progress. Anna and I live and work in Crow Heights Brooklyn. I have about an 8 min walking commute. Its pretty amazing. Our studio is in this brilliant building called Big Sue. The building is a solar powered green building.
What does an average work day involve? I am a morning person so I try and get started by 8am. I have a nice walk to the studio and grab a coffee. And just jump into the day. Read through my emails and then crank. I usually get pretty antsy around 1 so I try and do non-sitting down activities like screen printing.
Is there any form of technology that really helps you with your work? I love InDesign – I just love that program. I also really put my scanner to work and don’t know what I would do with out that.
How do you organize your space? I am totally out of control. As you may see from the photos. No real organization. My computer files are kinda the same. I attempt to have them organized but they just get filled with junk that I don’t through away.
What item from your desktop can you not do without? Computer, pens, pencils, sketchbook.
What is your favorite piece of office furniture? I have this rolling Ikea flat file drawer thing that is just brilliant. It has different drawers for different tools.
What inspires you? Everything. At the moment I am especially inspired by science and space. If you haven’t listened to RadioLab make it happen.
[Perry's next show: Lost in the Discovery of What Shapes the Mind: New Work by Mike Perry. March 26-April 18, MCAD Gallery, 2501 Stevens Ave, Minneapolis, MN]