An exhibition shows the finished work. In the studio, you can see how it comes about: sketches on the wall, paint residue on the floor, pieces in different stages. Once you have stood there, you often look at a painting differently afterward.
For collectors, this is more than a pleasant moment. A studio visit answers questions that a single work can hardly settle.
What a Studio Visit Shows
- Working method: Is the work done quickly or slowly, in layers or in one pass, with which materials? That explains a great deal about surface and effect.
- Context: A work rarely stands alone. In the studio, you see series, early stages, and sketches, and you recognize where a piece sits in the development of an artist’s position.
- Scale: How large a work really is often only becomes clear in a room, not on a screen.
- Attitude: In conversation, you hear what drives the work. You cannot read that from a wall label.
A good example is how Winton Afrić describes his work in our interview: many of his dragon sculptures carry scales that he shapes one by one by hand, even though he works mostly digitally. Once you know that, you look at the surface differently. Insights like this often only come in the studio.
How a Visit Comes About
A studio is a workplace, not a showroom. A visit therefore begins with a request, not with an unannounced knock. There are two reliable ways.
- Open studios and tours: In many cities, artists open their studios on set days. That is a quiet first step with no obligation.
- A personal request: If a work or an artist stays on your mind, ask. At Favori Art, we speak with the artists and are glad to find out whether a meeting is possible.
How to Prepare
A studio visit works when both sides have time. Three things help:
- Bring questions: How did the work come about? Is it part of a series? What are you working on right now?
- Start by looking: Price is a legitimate topic, but not the opening. Work first, numbers second.
- Respect unfinished work: A studio holds work in motion. Photograph only after you have asked.
Why Studios in Berlin Are Becoming Scarce
Berlin is one of the major places for visual art. According to bbk berlin, around 15,000 visual artists live there. The state’s studio program includes roughly 1,050 subsidized studios, where artists pay an income-based flat rate of 4.90 or 6.50 euros per square meter.
In recent budget years, funding for creating new workspaces was cut by almost 85 percent. The state has announced that it will secure existing studios but not build new ones, citing a lack of financial room. Artists’ associations point out that the existing stock is also at risk, for example because leases are expiring. According to reports in the taz, one in three subsidized studio buildings is currently considered at risk.
What this means in individual cases varies. What is clear: where workspaces are missing or become unaffordable, artists lose their place to work, and with it part of what a studio visit can show in the first place.
What This Means for Collectors
When you acquire a work, you support the work it came from. That is not an obligation, and not an argument for or against any price. It is a reminder of what stands behind a purchase: time, materials, and a space where both are possible.
How prices in contemporary art come about is explained in our article What Does an Artwork Cost?
Conclusion
A studio visit makes visible what a single work cannot show on its own: how an artist works, what a position is built on, and where it is heading. If you have the chance, take it, with curiosity and respect for the place.
Explore the positions in our gallery and get to know the artists of Favori Art.
If you would like to get to know an artist more closely, get in touch with us.
