Tom Sachs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tom Sachs
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Sachs in February 2024
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| Born | July 26, 1966 New York City, US
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| Known for | Sculpture |
| Spouse(s) |
Sarah Hoover
(m. 2012) |
Tom Sachs (born July 26, 1966) is an American contemporary artist. He is known for creating sculptures that often look like everyday objects or famous artworks, but made from different materials. He lives and works in New York City.
Contents
Early Life and Art Beginnings
Tom Sachs was born in New York City in 1966. He grew up in Westport, Connecticut. After high school, he went to Bennington College in Vermont. He then studied architecture in London before returning to the United States.
Sachs worked for two years in Frank Gehry's furniture shop in Los Angeles. This is where he learned about a special way of organizing called knolling. Around 1990, Sachs moved to New York. He started his own studio called Allied Cultural Prosthetics.
In 1994, Sachs was asked to create a display for a store called Barneys New York. He made a scene called Hello Kitty Nativity. It used popular characters like Hello Kitty and Bart Simpson to show how much people love brands and products. This display got a lot of attention and showed Sachs's interest in consumerism and branding.
Developing His Art Style
In the mid-1990s, Tom Sachs's art career really started to grow. His first big solo show was "Cultural Prosthetics" in New York in 1995. In this show, he combined fashion and other themes. For example, he made sculptures like HG (Hermès Hand Grenade) and Tiffany Glock (Model 19). These were models made from fancy Hermès or Tiffany packaging.
His next major show, "Creativity is the Enemy," opened in 1998. It featured sculptures like Chanel ... (1998) and Prada ... (1998). Other pieces, like Hermés Value Meal (1998), mixed luxury brands with fast-food brands like McDonald's. He also made versions of Piet Mondrian's famous paintings using gaffer's tape. Sachs often makes things he wants but can't have, saying, "making it is a way of having it."
Around this time, Sachs also created SONY Outsider (1998). This was a large model of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. It was made by outside companies, not by Sachs himself. Many critics felt it didn't look like his usual work. Sachs later realized that his unique, handmade style was very important.
Embracing Bricolage
After the SONY Outsider experience, Sachs decided to focus on "bricolage". This means making things from materials that are already available or collected. He likes to show the "scars" or marks of his work, proving that it was made by hand. He believes in doing things "my way," even if it takes longer.
In 2000, Sachs organized an exhibition called "American Bricolage." It showed the work of 12 artists who also used this style, including Alexander Calder.
Interactive Art and Museum Collections
After several solo shows, Sachs opened "Nutsy's" in 2002 in New York and 2003 in Berlin. This was a huge art installation that filled an entire floor. Visitors could drive remote-controlled cars on tracks throughout the exhibit. Some of Sachs's most famous works, like Unité and Nutsy's McDonald's, were first shown here. Unité is a detailed small-scale model of a famous building by Le Corbusier, made from foamcore.
By 2006, Sachs had two major exhibitions in Europe. His art is now in many important museum collections around the world. These include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In 2012, Sachs worked with Nike to create a special sneaker called the Mars Yard. They released a new sneaker called the General Purpose Shoe ten years later.
In 2017, the Nasher Sculpture Center held an exhibition called Tom Sachs: Tea Ceremony. This show focused on Sachs's unique way of doing the traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
Space Program
Tom Sachs has always been fascinated by space, especially the Apollo program from the 1960s and 1970s. This led to his big project called Space Program in 2007.
For this project, Sachs built a full-size model of the Apollo lunar module. He also created a mission control room with many video screens. He even made special space suits for two female astronauts. In October 2007, at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, Sachs launched his "spacecraft," "landed" on the "Moon," and explored its surface.
Sachs's Space Program is often funny and not historically accurate. For example, his Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) had a vodka bar and a library! After the "astronauts" took their first step, they used Sachs's handmade shotguns to "patrol the surface." They then planted a flag and collected "rock samples" by drilling into the gallery floor. Sachs even recreated famous Apollo TV footage using his own special effects sculptures.
Sachs continues to work on the Space Program. He collects fake "Moon rocks" and displays them in special boxes. In May 2012, he opened "Space Program 2.0: MARS" in New York. This exhibit included new sculptures for colonizing Mars, like a Mars rover and a solar-powered boombox. As of 2021–2022, the Space Program is being shown in Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany.
Bronze Collection
In 2008 and 2009, Tom Sachs's Bronze Collection was shown in different places, including Paris. This collection featured large bronze sculptures of characters like Hello Kitty and Miffy. These sculptures were made in Sachs's special style, often looking like they were made from foamcore. The collection also included bronze casts of battery towers and a skateboarding halfpipe.
Knolling: The Art of Organization
The term knolling was first used in 1987 by Andrew Kromelow. He was a janitor at Frank Gehry's furniture shop. Gehry was designing chairs for a company called Knoll, which was known for its furniture with straight, angular lines. Kromelow would arrange tools at right angles, similar to Knoll furniture, and called this knolling. This made everything organized and easy to see.
Tom Sachs worked in Gehry's shop and learned about knolling from Kromelow. Now, knolling is a very important part of Sachs's art process. He even has a studio rule: "Always be Knolling" (ABK). He explains this rule in his 2009 studio manual, 10 Bullets:
- Scan your environment for materials, tools, books, music, etc. which are not in use.
- Put away everything not in use. If you aren't sure, leave it out.
- Group all 'like' objects.
- Align or square all objects to either the surface they rest on, or the studio itself.
You can see knolling in Sachs's art, like in his piece Hardcore. This is a cabinet filled with objects neatly arranged at right angles. Sachs also loves Knoll furniture, and he has made full-size copies of their pieces, like Knoll Loveseat and End Table.
Images for kids
See also
- 5S (methodology)
- Shadow board
