Trees of Home (for Peter Beard) 6, 2020
Oil, plates, bondo on wood
72 x 60 x 9 7/8 inches (182.9 x 152.4 x 25 cm)
© Julian Schnabel Studio; Photo by Tom Powel Imaging; Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
Obsessed with van Gogh
Julian Schnabel loves the Engadine. The painter and filmmaker is showing a new body of work at his son’s gallery and explains why he wants to remember a deceased friend with it.
This time he doesn’t come in pajamas, which he usually wears to film galas. The snow is knee deep in St. Moritz. Julian Schnabel trudges into the gallery in a winter coat. His fur shoes open, from under his coat peer a St. Moritz sweater and white overalls. His head is protected by a little worn out hat. Whoever looks like this will find their way home through even the deepest woods; he carries the wilderness within him. Before one can even make a comment, the artist gets to the point. His eyes are awake like those of a bird of prey in flight. Within minutes, he checks the hanging of the paintings, corrects the lighting, and asks what one thinks of the works.