Artist Hernan Bas has filled his Little Havana studio with a kaleidoscopic swirl of materials: paintings, hundreds of books, artworks, and even magnets and seeds can be found in the converted mechanical workshop. There, just steps from his home, the Miami native spends long days carefully constructing his decadent and highly sought-after reference artworks, which mix imagery drawn from pop culture, religion, literature , kitsch and art history. These beautifully rendered works are marked by Bas’s deft technical ability and rescued from too-pretty perfection by the artist’s own sense of humor.
Hernan Bas, Concept Artist #18 (2023). Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin.
Bas’s most recent works are currently exhibited in “The Conceptualists: Vol. II“ at Lehmann Maupin’s premises in New York (until June 17). The exhibition marks the sixth solo presentation of the artist with the gallery and is part of the continuity of his “Conceptualists” series, which he began in 2021. The acrylic paintings are inspired by Bas’s fascination with conceptual art and revolve around the eccentric activities of an imaginary artist (in a painting, for example, the artist embarks on a road trip, creating fake roadside memorials). Looking around Bas’s studio, one can discover his inspiring fodder in every nook and cranny of the space, from a set of pre-pop Warhol drawings kept under glass to his extensive library of history materials. art.
Recently, Bas welcomed us to his one-of-a-kind studio where he keeps the TV on and runs his “Lazy Susans tricks.”
Tell us about your workshop. Where is it, how did you find it, what type of space is it?
My studio is in Little Havana, a historic neighborhood just west of downtown Miami. Both of my parents’ families lived nearby when they arrived in the United States from Cuba. My house is within walking distance, so that was a deciding factor (I never had a driver’s license). The space itself is a modestly sized former industrial space, once a mechanical workshop in the 40s or 50s, and was an environmental testing lab before I took it over and emptied the space.
Do you have studio assistants or other team members working with you? What are they doing?
No, just me.
How many hours do you typically spend in the studio, what time of day do you feel most productive, and what activities take up the majority of that time?
I’m in the studio almost every day, usually late morning until around 7pm. I feel pretty productive all the time…I’m at work! (I’m a bit of a workaholic.) If I’m not going to work, why go to the studio? When I’m not physically painting, I’m at the library or online doing research. I paint in acrylics but even that doesn’t dry fast enough for me, so between drying times is when I press the search button…or water the cactus.
View of the Hernan Bas library. Courtesy of the artist.
What’s the first thing you do when you walk into your studio (after turning on the lights)?
I turn on the TV. Some people might find this odd, but I work with a TV on all day. It’s mostly white noise; I hate working in silence, but it also becomes a way of doing research while working. The stuff I tend to have doesn’t always pay off, but sometimes a weird story or obscure fact about ancient aliens, The unexplained Or History’s Greatest Mysteries takes me to the web for a deeper dive.
Seed studies. Courtesy of the artist.
What are you working on at the moment? Please send us a few photos taken with your smartphone of a job in progress – or photos of different jobs in various stages of completion – in a way that you think provide insight into your process.
I just finished a much-needed total cleaning of the studio, which made me want to start fresh when my next batch of blank canvases arrives this week. In the meantime, I have been drawing and planning the latest series of “Conceptualists”, a few of which are currently on display at Lehmann Maupin in New York. One of the next “concept artists” is building green headstones/tombstones made of birdseed and tallow. To get the right “seed” texture, I made flat silicone molds that I can dab in thick, wet paint. You can buy these kinds of flat molds – usually for decorating fondant for cakes – but I couldn’t find one that looked good, so I made my own.
The molds only took a day or two, but it’s not as simple as “press it into the paint and it’s done”. I then have to paint the individual seeds and find the right way to coat them to mimic the “grease” or gelatin used to make those suet bricks that people use in bird feeders… This is a good example of the times that I often find myself in the studio, thinking, “You’re doing What today?” Trying to perfectly match what a gallon of stage blood looks like on Easter morning is another recent example.
Rotating storage bins. Courtesy of the artist.
What tool or art supply do you most enjoy working with, and why? Please send us a picture of it.
I don’t know if these qualify as a tool, but the most useful item in my studio turned out to be my three vintage industrial rotating storage bins. They are basically Lazy Susans towers, originally used to organize various sized nuts and bolts in workshops, but have been a lifesaver for organizing paintings etc. buried together – it would take me half an hour to find the color I was looking for! Also, if you have limited wall space like me, the fact that they are freestanding is a huge bonus.
How do you know when a work you are working on clicks? How do you know that a work you are working on is a failure?
Every job starts with a very specific concept, so it’s rare that I start a canvas without checking out the idea first for an extended period of time. This usually weeds out the duds ahead of time, but if the idea doesn’t hold water and turns into what I call an “impossible composition” then the preliminary drawings tend to give me a head up for the give up. An “impossible composition”, to me, is an idea, scene, or image that simply cannot be successfully described in a painting: the story is too big, too layered, or too obscure to make a relatable picture. . I was obsessed with “Duck Architecture” (look it up) for a while earlier this year, but there was no way I could do a good job on it. At least not yet.
Prints by Matthew Brannon in the studio of Hernan Bas. Courtesy of the artist.
What images or objects do you look at while you work? Do you have other works by artists in your studio? If so, please share a phone photo and tell the story behind it.
I have a lot of works by other artists in my studio. Most of it is in a front room that doubles as a library and repository for my collection of oddities. Almost all are prints or works on paper safely framed under glass, or small sculptures in display cases. I fear the ability of airbrush paints to ‘wander’ through the air too much… I had an incident using acrylic based spray paint which left a thin layer of pink dust particles all over it! Luckily it didn’t stick to anything, but imagine cotton candy-colored dust above every horizontal surface within a ten-foot radius of a painting…
That aside, as you walk around the studio you’ll find a pair of old Matthew Brannon prints of fake movie posters, The house that bled to death And Satan’s room just above a collection of scale models of the “Amityville Horror” house. There is Bas Jan Ader In search of the miraculousan engraving by Félicien Rops, a tower of PBR cans covered with stickers by Pruitt & Early, a bronze bust of a woman by Patrick Nagel, etc. – even before my own archival boxes – would be the small group of Andy Warhol’s early “pre-Pop” drawings hanging in the office space.
What was the last museum or gallery exhibit you saw that really stood out to you and why?
I recently caught the “Van Gogh and the avant-garde: the modern landscape.” Alongside great Van Goghs that I had never seen before, there were also dreamy, soft focus drawings by Seurat that I always wanted to see in person. The weird thing about the show was the lighting: I thought I had temporary solar blindness, but in fact it looked like any type of light was used (LED?) Combined with the pale green color of the wall to project all in one shine. A small white frame around a study by Seurat has become a muted pink, and the painting itself has become softer too. In the end I thought it kinda worked, maybe I should experiment with some pale mauve frames and mats.
Flamingo magnets. Courtesy of the artist.
Is there anything in your studio that a visitor might find surprising?
Most visitors are drawn to my collection of flamingo magnets on the side of the fridge, but the object that raises the most eyebrows is the 18th century wicker. cooling cabinet on the wall.
Describe the space in three adjectives.
Particular. Staff. Private.
A wicker coffin suspended in the workshop of Hernan Bas. Courtesy of the artist.
What’s the last thing you do before leaving the studio at the end of the day (other than turning off the lights)?
Make sure I have my trash bag to throw away. I live in the tropics, so I make sure I don’t leave any leftover food in the trash to avoid the nasty giant cockroach surprise we’re used to in Miami.
What do you like to do right after?
Lock the door and throw the bag in the dumpster.
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