Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1544027
Of Dinner Plates + Dante: Julian Schnabel's Epic Year and the Artist's Texas Tales I f you're an art person — or a film, design, or architecture aficionado or a member of the cultural cognoscenti or even a passerby on the street — the name Julian Schnabel carries bold imprimatur. The New York- and Texas- reared talent redefined painting via the unforgettable Plate Paintings, one of the through lines of a 50-year practice. The artist's The Patients and the Doctors, 1978, changed everything in the last half of the 20th century, solidifying a space for the then 26-year-old within the contemporary art world. Since then, Schnabel's vision has perambulated from painting and sculpture to encompass interior design and architecture (famously Gramercy Park Hotel and his own Palazzo Chupi compound in the West Village), alongside a much-lauded turn as filmmaker. Beginning with his directorial debut, the 1996 filmic portrait of fellow artist Basquiat — a riveting insider view of the '80s art world and a talent who flamed out too young — succeeded by six other films, Schnabel has garnered cinematic accolades, nominations, and awards in the By Catherine D. Anspon Oscars, Golden Globes, Cannes, and Venice International Film Festival, to cite a few. Martin Scorsese, mostly recently cast in In the Hand of Dante as the sage Isaiah, has said of Schnabel: "He has invented his own cinematic language." Our road to this Schnabel profile involved a trail of art-world luminaries, starting with Houston gallerist Robert McClain, whose 2006 solo for Schnabel led to this writer's first interview with him. Improbably McClain was in New York when we emailed him, for the memorial for Robert Mnuchin, the iconic gallerist who had just mounted a five-decade survey of Schnabel's Plate Paintings. As it turned out, Schnabel's show was powerhouse Mnuchin Gallery's final exhibition after its larger-than-life founder's passing. McClain spoke to Mnuchin Gallery partner Michael McGinnis on our behalf. McGinnis graciously emailed Julian Schnabel, recommending our interview. Not hearing back during the great New York blizzard, we reached out to the artist's son via Vito Schnabel Gallery, which had presented a Plate Paintings show. After Manhattan's snow melted, the gallery replied and connected us with the artist's studio staff. There was interest, but the timing needed to wait until spring 2027, they relayed, when Schnabel's work would be included in a group show at the Blanton Museum. Good, a year to prepare for an epic interview. Then an email arrived from the artist that overrode that plan: "We can do something. I'm in Austin later today to receive my induction to the Austin Film Society Hall of Fame and I'm showing In the Hand of Dante there. We can talk. Text me." We did. That afternoon, we were on the phone with Patrick Hillman, executive assistant to Julian Schnabel; images were sent, the April issue cover was in the works, and a Zoom interview Julian Schnabel in his studio in New York, 2020 WESTON WELLS 40