A Drawing, Not a Picture

Born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1932, James Wines founded the architecture and environmental arts studio SITE (Sculpture in the Environment) in New York City in 1970. The studio gained early notoriety for imaginative public spaces and mind-bending buildings, including the iconic BEST Products showrooms and boutiques for pathbreaking fashion designer Willi Smith. Today, Wines continues to direct the studio, which recently completed a series of shops for Off-White, the influential fashion brand founded by late designer Virgil Abloh. Drawing has been an essential facet of Wines’s long career, and his works are featured in the collections of major museums worldwide. In this conversation with Phillip Denny, Wines discusses his latest drawing series, the first installment of which was commissioned for this issue.

PHILLIP DENNY: Tell us about this drawing, Nature’s Revenge. You said before that it’s the first in a new series of drawings showing at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago. What are you thinking about with this cycle?

JAMES WINES: Actually, I found a drawing I di…