Guffwatch: Koons special (Vol.III)

September 29 2011

Image of Guffwatch: Koons special (Vol.III)

Picture: Sotheby's

Sotheby's has put together an entertaining film called 'The Artist'. The premise is, what inspires great artists to make their great works? As Sotheby's auctioneer Tobias Meyer asks in the introduction:

How could Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel, how did he come up with all these compositions? How did he do it? It's a miracle.

Cut to Jeff Koons (sitting, I presume, in his studio with four assistants making his works behind him) - so, how do you do it, Jeff?

My father was an interior decorator, and from a young age I would see all the samples for carpet and wallpaper and I was also around a lot of  objects. I really learnt about how colours and textures really can effect emotionally how you feel about things. My grandfather used to have an ashtray, it was of a woman lying down on a couch, with her legs in the air and if you put a cigarette here the heat from the cigarette would make the legs go back and forth... I was so fascinated by that, so it had a big influence on me... [etc., etc.]

Can't you just imagine Michelangelo saying something similar? Still, the film is worth watching for the views of some other, more enlightening artists. 

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