Jordan Casteel may be best known for her cinematically lit, intricate portraits of people in her Harlem community. But her work changed in early 2021, when she moved to Upstate New York.
While her friends remain frequent subjects, she is now just as likely to paint her garden, a cluster of magnolia trees, or a vase of daffodils atop an outdoor table. Since Casteel moved upstate, the region has only grown as an art hub; it now boasts the Campus, a collaboration among six galleries, as well as the School, Art Omi, Storm King, and many other art centers.
Casteel, whose work is in the collections of such august museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, offered CULTURED a tour of her favorite local haunts ahead of Upstate Art Weekend, an annual festival of openings, exhibitions at events that runs from July 18 to 21.
Your last solo gallery show focused on landscapes. How has the landscape of the Hudson Valley informed—or even transformed—your practice?
I find I am drawn towards discovering new environments through relationship-building and observation. Now that my studio practice is in the Hudson Valley, the paintings reflect the softer edges of the landscape and the people that exist within it.
Where are you right now? What do you see, hear, and smell?
I just left the monthly happy hour for Upstate Color, a BIPOC group I co-founded last year. It’s a way for the community to meet up and feel less like one of one. When there, I see people connecting, hear folks laughing and talking about what’s up this summer, and I smell our pop-up food truck, La Ruta Del Sol, and the seedlings we’re trading.
Where do you go for alone time?
My garden.
Best place for a coffee meeting?
Camp Kingston is my favorite place for a quick bite, coffee, and community.
Your ideal art-viewing itinerary?
A visit to Arlene Shechet’s “Girl Group” at Storm King is at the top of my list.
Favorite places to shop for clothes?
My girl, Kym Chambers of Chambers Vintage, is a true tastemaker and just opened a physical store in Saugerties.
What is your pick for a local restaurant you can actually get into for dinner?
You have to visit Albert and Malenda at Top Taste in Kingston. They are James Beard nominees and the mac and cheese, the patties, the jerk chicken… you can’t go wrong with anything. Not to mention, they are some of the kindest people around.
What is your favorite thing about where you live?
Access to the outdoors, whether sitting on my back patio or meeting friends at a local swimming hole—there is no shortage of things to discover.
