20x200 artist and happy camper, Chi Birmingham, answered a few questions for us.

Where would you most like to live?
Since I was in high school I have wanted to live in New York. In August I moved to Brooklyn, and love living here. But the truth is that I have carved out a life for myself here that is very similar to the one I had before when I was living in Big Sur, California.

What is your idea of an ideal day?
I love camping. My favorite days have probably been the ones that I have spent entirely out of doors. There is something very satisfying about making total use of the available sunlight, and then going to bed when the sun goes down. I also like the little projects that are necessary on a camping trip. Daily tasks like washing dishes or making coffee become strange and novel challenges.

Who are your favorite characters in history?
Philosophers, Scientists, Inventors. You see pictures of these people in tweed coats milling around the confined little world of the university or the lab, but in the unseen world of ideas they are going places no one has ever been. As a fairly mild mannered fellow myself, I find this dichotomy reassuring.

Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
The heroines who have had the most direct impact on me have been my teachers: Paula Walling in elementary school, Mrs. Grecco in middle school, Elizabeth Rosengren in high school, and Kari Weil in college. All were women that were sincerely interested and engaged in the subject they were teaching. I could sense the satisfaction they got from their job, and it inspired me to look for something that would make me feel that way.

Your favorite painter?
I love the work of Giorgio Morandi. Fairfield Porter is another painter in a similar vein that I draw a lot of inspiration from. I have probably spent the most time looking at the work of Luc Tuymans. I keep a lot of his reproductions around the studio to work off of.

Do you listen to music when you paint?
Recently I have been listening to a lot of radio shows over the internet. I love to listen to the news, and countless hours in the studio gives me a good opportunity to explore the wide world of talk radio. I have been especially enjoying the Political Gabfest provided by Slate online magazine. PRI’s The Sound of Young America is another favorite. Also, if you have the time, Creative Screenwriting Magazine puts out an hour long interview with a contemporary screenwriter almost every week.

Which 20x200 artists do you most adore, and why?
Mike Perry is doing some great work. He has a great sense of design and I like that he seems to draw ideas from some of the less rarefied corners of visual culture (coloring books, mazes, 3D lettering). There is something beautiful in the way he elevates his humble source material, and his work reminds me of the pleasure I took in pouring over all manner of printed material when I was younger.

What are you working on?
Painting, of course, and a lot of drawing. But my most recent endeavor is an Online Painting Tutorial Site. I love to talk with people about the technical side of painting, but as you can imagine it isn’t always the sort of thing anyone wants to listen to, so I have been storing away my ideas on this Blog.

Can you share some thoughts behind your 20x200 edition, Studio Apartment?
Studio Apartment was painted in the first month after I moved in with the woman I am now engaged to. I was reexamining a lot of my daily routines and trying to find room for both of us in my single room cabin in the Big Sur. I didn’t know exactly what sort of relationship we would be able to carve out for ourselves around our artistic ambitions, but my hopes were represented in the layout of the shared workspace represented in Studio Apartment. On the right, Lorissa’s table is neatly organized for the work of writing. On the left my own desk is set up much the way I had it at the time. The urban setting was a bit of wishful thinking at the time, but it is not at all unlike the view we now see outside our Bushwick apartment.

Edition prints of Studio Apartment are still available for you here.

Chi's website.