“I love furniture, but it has to be the whole picture. It has to be the music that we’re playing, it has to be everything. You have to create the entire environment—it’s like a movie set.”

— Ralph Pucci

Interview by Dan Golden

A few months ago, before the world turned upside down, I had the opportunity to visit Ralph Pucci at his expansive Los Angeles showroom. We were joined by the artist Jeff Quinn, a frequent Pucci collaborator who had just completed a large-scale mural for the front of the showroom to coincide with an exhibition of new paintings. The Pucci showroom was closed for a bit due to COVID, but has recently reopened, and I encourage art and design lovers to visit—it’s a unique space and experience.

Dan Golden: It's great to see you again, Ralph. And, really nice to meet you, Jeff. I’m curious to hear how you two originally met.

Ralph: We did a Jim Zivic show. Jim did the coal pieces I showed you, and we needed an art installation to complement the Zivic spirit. We loved utilizing different artists to create an atmosphere for the Wall, so I said, we need something for the walls. We need a landscape, a surrealistic landscape and Jeff did a gigantic painting on the wall when you come into the showroom. That's always been a prominent spot—artists from Kenny Scharf to Maira Kalman have all done paintings there. Everybody.

Jeff: So, that was the original entry. Over the years, I’ve worked on various projects with Ralph.

Ralph: One time I wanted to do a whole installation on our 9th-floor space, in a room of this size. (pointing to the large showroom walls) And Jeff created a gigantic mural for the entire space. A year or two later, we had a Vladimir Kagan exhibition here in L.A., and Jeff created a mural that meshed perfectly.

Jeff: It was in the Pacific Design Center. You know, it's funny. It wasn't like looking at Kagan's work and saying what would work. Making this kind of invented landscape that was about roughly 35 feet long or so, and maybe 10 feet high. Painting it in New York on Tyvek and then putting it up like wallpaper. But once they installed the Kagan stuff, it was like right in this world.

Dan: So, Ralph, how did you make the connection between Kagan’s work and Jeff’s work?

Ralph: Well, for Kagan, I wanted people to walk into the environment and say, "Whoa, I get it." Because it has to be more than just a piece of furniture. I love furniture, don't get me wrong, but it has to be the whole picture, your whole world. It has to be the music that we're playing, it has to be everything. You have to create the entire environment—it's like a movie set. And I just knew that Jeff would create the perfect backdrop for the world of Kagan.

Ruben Toledo murals and custom painted Ralph Pucci collection furniture

Paul Mathieu “Still Motion” collection furniture and mural

Dan: Jeff, tell me a bit about your work and process.

Jeff: Sure. Well, I usually start working without a clear idea in mind. The work develops as I make it. I used to make paintings like where I'd say, “I'm going to draw this out and then I'm going to make a painting about the drawing.”, and it became just not that interesting to me. It became more interesting to just start something, work much more unconsciously, see what developed, add, and subtract until something emerges. So, that moment where something sort of clicks, it just works for whatever reason, and then, it's a matter of editing, adding, and subtracting.

Thematically, a lot of the work is about time, memory, remnants of things, things that were. There are paintings that I've made that look almost post-apocalyptic. There are others that reflect more the power of nature. I am drawn to the idea of what's left after something is gone.

Dan: Your process is interesting. It’s the most high-wire danger act as an artist, working without set parameters.

Jeff: There were times over the years where I've looked at different processes, more systematic, but it just doesn’t appeal to me. Each painting has to be regarded as its own separate thing.

Dan: So Ralph, I'm curious to hear how you first landed on the unique combination of art & design that one sees when they visit your showrooms.

Ralph: Well, my career started in mannequins. You've got to dress a mannequin. So, you're involved with fashion. That's how I met Isabel Toledo and Anna Sui, and Stephen Sprouse and Isaac Mizrahi and all these people. And then, you have to create an environment, So, even back then, I was working with muralists and people who paint. It all grew from there.

From left: Friend, Andy Warhol, Larissa, Ralph Pucci, Andrée Putman, Cyrille Putman, Keith Haring

CAPTION TK: SIZES Mannequins collection, Ralph Pucci

Dan: And how do you pick the people you work with?

Ralph: I’ve always appreciated people who operate outside the box. My job and my life as a businessman would have been a lot easier if I sold some of the Italian brands (for example) where you place the order, and it's shipped September 1st and you're going to receive it, and it's all documented, computerized. But that's a real bore for me. It's so much more interesting to work with people like Jeff and Chris Lehrecke, Patrick Naggar, India Mahdavi, Paul Mathieu. Nina Seirafi, Jim Zivic and John Wigmore.

Dan: Interesting but potentially challenging, right?

Ralph: Sometimes things go wrong. There's going to be late deliveries, or you're working with unique materials. And when you work with unique materials, for instance, Chris Lehrecke's wood, in the early days, it split. These customers didn't know it was solid wood, it splits, that's part of the beauty of it.

These are people who are real visionaries. So, that's what I like.

Dan: Do people understand the work a lot better now?

Ralph: We’ve been lucky to have really created a language in this place, with all of these designers.

Jeff: Also, the beauty of it is that unlike a lot of other places, there's a sense of touch that these things all have. I go to a lot of art fairs now, and so much of the work seems phoned in as if it's just sent to a fabricator. But with Pucci, you feel the hand of the maker.

Dan: I see that. So Jeff, going back to your early New York art roots, tell me about how you started out.

Jeff: Sure. I moved to New York, 30 years ago, and I did a lot of commissioned murals. It would be wealthy upper east side clients that would say they wanted reproductions of a Fragonard painting on a dining room wall, that kind of thing. I went from doing a lot of decorative mural painting, working with designers, and then I just got to a point, where I just didn't want to do it anymore. The idea of just going into someone's place and making something. I thought you go around once. I want to make what I want to make. I want to make my work. And even if it means like, the struggle, and it's a struggle, for anyone.

Dan: How did your work change when you went back to painting? Or were you always painting?

Jeff.: I was always painting. I just didn't have as much time when I was doing the mural painting. When you're doing that eight hours a day, the last thing you want to do when you get home is start another painting.

Dan: So have you both talked about what you're going to do together after this exhibition?

Ralph: This is a big show for us, obviously Jeff’s got the gigantic mural outside and 20 paintings inside. So, there's a lot to work to be done on this, it’s our focus.

Jeff Quinn’s Fortuna mural on the exterior of Ralph Pucci’s LA showroom — Jeff Quinn’s *Fortuna* mural on the exterior of Ralph Pucci’s LA showroom

Dan: So, the party on Thursday night, is going to be the official launch of Jeff’s mural and paintings?

Ralph: Yes—this show is Jeff Quinn's mural, and 20 paintings, Marjorie Salvaterra's 15 photographs. So, we just wanted to keep it on the art, and Galerie Magazine is sponsoring it. We're going to have some music outside, live. Inside will be music piped in by the French artist Eric Schmitt. I am very into jazz and I sort of know jazz from this era, in the late '50s and early '60s. So, the first two were basically my selections of people like, Lee Morgan, and Miles Davis, and Modern Jazz Quartet, Bill Evans, Chet Baker, and then, Christine McBride. You already know his music, he has nine Grammys. He's played with everyone from James Brown to Sting to his own bands, to every jazz person. And Eric Schmitt has created this sort of podcast of music, wacky stuff starting with Archie Bell & the Drells, and then, it goes into like Donovan, and early Eric Burdon, The Animals, San Francisco Nights, and then, goes into something else. Then to something like electric french music, and the Yardbirds. So, it's sort of, it's a little wacky.

Interior view of the LA showroom featuring work by Pierre Paulin, lighting by Ted Abramczyk, sculptures by John Koga and Vladimir Kagan

Mural and paintings by Fong Min Liao and furniture and lighting by Paul Mathieu

Dan: sounds pretty eclectic. Talking with you today Ralph just reiterates for me your great passion for art and design. It's just a part of who you are, this natural ability you have for putting elements together—art, music, and furniture to create something unique. That's a special combination.

Ralph: It’s been fun.

Dan: And you've always been a super generous person, with your time and idea, and very open and down to earth. Those are all admirable traits, and I'm glad to get to talk with you again and to meet Jeff. Jeff, your work is amazing!

Ralph: Thank you. So good to see you and catch up.

Jeff: Thanks! Nice to meet you and let’s stay in touch.

Dan: Yes! For sure.

Jeff Quinn, New Paintings
Ralph Pucci Los Angeles