Follow Along
Authenticity: Tom Sachs’ Keynote at the 2014 New York Times International Luxury Conference
Tom Sachs is an artist whose practice is driven by reproducing iconic, rare, or expensive objects and processes, typically in incongruous materials. He brings an unusual systems approach to art that is as much a part of the work as the finished piece. In videos like A Love Letter to Plywood, Color, and 10 Bullets, Sachs—in his campy, appropriative style—indoctrinates viewers to his way of thinking and making.
Quotes, Notes + References
Tom “It’s not a forgery, it’s a model.”
Tom “Art is a supreme luxury. It’s the thing that we do with our extra time.”
Tom “The dark side of consumerism: planned obsolescence, its evil twin brother: perceived obsolescence.”
Deborah [Laughs]
Deborah “You’re a complicit user of luxury items.”
Tom “Absolutely.”
Tom “When it’s consecrated by posterity it’s a supreme luxury object.”
Tom “I love propaganda, but it’s not my thing.”
Tom “My secret formula for success is 1 + 1 = 1,000,000.”
“Any two things in the world are connected by a third. The secret is figuring out what that third thing is.” —John Fergason, former studio assistant
Deborah “So does that mean it’s not a luxury item if there’s no hand to it?”
Tom “I think it brings to question what luxury means. To me the greatest luxury is art, because it’s above and beyond all shelter.”
Deborah “Function—at a luxury level—is not the most important thing, or is not a defining aspect of luxury. I mean, art doesn’t serve a utilitarian function. It serves an emotional function, it serves an aesthetic function, it serves a, kind of, higher… the same way that an appreciation for certain kinds of luxury and craftsmanship…”
Tom “Art’s extremely expensive. It’s expensive to buy, and expensive to make. It’s very expensive to maintain and protect.”
Deborah “A lot of this is questioning the practice of art itself.”
Tom “If you compare Le Corbusier’s failures in doing that with Ray Croc’s successes in doing that…”
Tom “Give me convenience or give me death.”
Tom “We’ve all become great photographers. I don’t even know how to do that any more.”
Deborah “Show me more pictures.”
Tom “This is a Sub-Zero refrigerator, which is something I’ve always loved and wanted. Especially living in lower Manhattan—I don’t know how many times you’ve been to someone’s house and have seen only a pint of Häagen-Dazs and a pint of Stoli in the freezer. So there are these Donald Judd-like monoliths to eternal coldness…”
