Born in New York in 1966, Tom Sachs originally trained as an architect at the Architectural Association in London. Following a short stint at Frank Gehry’s studio he returned to New York and has since pursued a career as a sculptor. Ahead of his two concurrent exhibition openings in New York, Bronze Collection and Animals, we quizzed the artist on his career thus far and unusual fascination with Hello Kitty...
Why the switch from architecture to sculpture? What was the tipping point for you?
When I was studying architecture I didn’t think I had what it took to be an artist. Gradually whilst studying at the AA in London I realised the opposite was true. I spent a lot of time in the workshop building technical models and I became aware that sculpture was something I could be far better at.
How much of your architectural background informs your sculptures?
A lot, studying architecture was incredibly useful, not just in the scale of my sculptures but in the Animals show that’s running concurrent with the Lever House exhibition at Sperone Westwater, I’ve redesigned the space, changing the three galleries into nine. Much of my work is also architectural in that it plays with the scale, changing the way your body relates to a space or object, which is similar to the objective of architects.
Why are you running concurrent shows?
It’s more logistical than anything. Being freelance it’s either feast or famine. The Animals show was postponed three times in as many years and delaying it again would have meant cancelling it.
Is it easier to host two exhibitions at the same time?
Well I have an excellent team who, together with both galleries have made the process as smooth as possible. Everyone has been totally fantastic, even the New York Yankees of the 1950s weren’t as good.
Bronze is not an easy medium to work with. Why did you choose to cast the collection in bronze?
It’s the most expensive practical material, which has the highest value for a modern sculptor. So for me to do these cheap, iconic products and cast them in bronze I wanted to shift our perceptions of their value. Take the skateboard quarter pipe – this is something so ordinary and noisy that you see everywhere, but now it seems really precious because it’s bronze.
Did you create with Lever House specifically in mind?
Lever House is New York’s finest example of architecture in the style of Le Corbusier and the only building that displays each of his five points of architecture. With this in mind I wanted to utilise the different spaces to the best of their abilities – so the Le Corbusier Chandigarh street lamps in the plaza set the scene for the rest of the show.
What’s with Hello Kitty? That's a rather unusual cultural reference. Or is it?
They’re like the children of New York. It’s difficult to find a more universal icon whose roots are purely in merchandise. There’s no historical legacy with Hello Kitty as you find with Mickey Mouse. On the one hand you have these objects that represent the successes of the modernist movement, juxtaposed with human icons represented by animals.
I have my own interpretations as to what each of the figures represents that developed as I worked through the project. But it’s important to me that people develop their own interpretations too.
Each of the objects and characters are references I’ve been working on for the past ten years. I chose them because they are acceptable things that weave through our everyday lives. They’re not esoteric.
How long did it take you to create the collection?
The bronze collection took about a year to actually construct at three foundries, one in Long Island, two in Arizona. But my projects aren’t about having a beginning, middle and end as such. I have three or four (or maybe six depending how you look at it) bodies of work that I’ve been developing over the last ten years. And I work on all of them all the time to varying degrees.
What else are you working on at the moment?
I’m still putting the finishing touches to the Bronze Collection and The Animals. The following week we’ll be getting ready for a moonwalk with The Space Program and finishing a book about it that’s out in Autumn. We’re also working on a top-secret project.
How do you relax?
Is that Italian? I love what I do, I find it relaxing in itself.
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