John Currin Makes a House Call

     I first met John Currin sometime around the late 90's when he came to my shop with his portfolio of paintings to show me and to buy some materials. He seemed to be a well mannered and open minded young man with an ego-less personality. He purchased some of the best mediums and colors I had at that time and spent an hour or more curiously asking questions that I gladly answered. He said he would be back in the near future to get some other things. Unfortunately, I didn't hear from him or see him for eight years. By that time he had become a giant in the art world with the help of the Gagosian Gallery.

He was brought back to me by his friend and fellow painter Lisa Yuskavage who was also using my supplies. She had suggested that he should upgrade his materials now that he had achieved such a high level of fame and to insure that his paintings survive the test of time. I asked him now that he was on top of the art world and everything was seemingly working, why did he need me? Why change anything if it's not broke? He profoundly replied that it took him ten years to get to that pinnacle and it will be even harder to stay there, and that my materials would help him do just that! Enough said! What a great answer, and I never forgot it.

I had come across my Flemish White at the latter part of 2006 and when he tried it, he went into ecstasy to say the least. He said he was looking for a white like that all his life. He stated that white was the most important part of a painting. When he went to Italy to study the Old Master paintings, mostly the Venetians, the museum would let him take the painting out into the daylight on an easel for close examination to examine the layering and the textures. He knew he could never buy a white like that until he came upon mine. In fact, the day of discovery, he tried to call me three times in one afternoon, but my store was packed with customers and I couldn't come to the phone. My wife said he was very annoyed, so I told her to tell him that I would call him in the evening after dinner. I did so and he kept me on the phone for two and a half hours, not in a conversation, but in an interrogation! I must have satisfied him because everything has been just fine since then.

In the spring of 2007, I was invited to his studio with my wife Joyce, who was my partner, and to show him how easy it was to make the paint by hand from the dry pigment. After a ten minute demonstration, he ordered fifteen 50lbs. bags, as did Lisa, Cecily Brown, Sean Landers, and Richard Phillips!

Shortly after that day, my wife suddenly died without any warning. He and Lisa were very sympathetic and comforting to me in my grief. The rest of 2007 was pretty rough for me emotionally and I was going to give up my business because I had lost all interest in it and everything else. In January 2008, the New Yorker Magazine ran an extensive article on John, and he mentioned me a couple of times about my Flemish White and my colors, saying I was probably the best colorist in the world! The notoriety and validation I received from that article picked me up emotionally and renewed my interest in life. I composed a letter thanking him. He has qualities that the average person does not possess. If it were not for the article and the attention it achieved, I wouldn't be here now.

In the spring of 2008, I invited John to my home to turn him on to some things I felt would be of interest to his creative and intellectual consciousness. It eventually carried over to a second visit shortly afterwards, so I must have made a positive impact. We selected a Saturday afternoon and he arrived with a friend who was also a person of note in the art world. Whenever these important meetings occur the weather is always perfect, so I take that as a positive sign. I live across the street from a park so the light cascades into the rooms thru a series of large windows which are in alignment with the trees.

There was a lot of energy crackling that day and I knew I had a limited time to get my point across, maybe three hours at the most. We looked at my personal paintings and my collection of contemporary art. We examined a short essay by Jorge Luis Borges, looked at part of a Godard film and its relationship to his painting, briefly discussed gravity and its effects on every stage of painting, a small mention of Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" with Picasso's ex-wife in my loft circa 1966, and finally, my collection of nude photos concerning the feminine mystique in his art. He uses photos occasionally in his paintings and he selected a few to take with him.

All told, an interesting meeting covering a total of six hours. As an individual, he does not possess the petty qualities that the average person does, he just focuses on the basic essentials of life and art. I wish I knew more people like him. Since then, I have worked with him on preparing linens to shorten the drying time while improving the entire procedure. The making of his mediums in four viscosities, suggesting colors, and of course his white with different additives to alter the handling. He likes a tooth and a pull to the paint, thin layers, day to day dry. Anything I could do for him, I would, as he was very instrumental in helping me hold my life together after the loss of my wife, Joyce.

--Robert Doak '10