Arts & Entertainment

Showing Your Art

Lesson time 13:59 min

The venue in which your work is seen—whether in a gallery setting or as part of an exhibition—can contribute to the conversation you’re having with your audience.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Learn to Absorb Criticism · Communicate With Your Viewers Through Context · Exhibitions Allow Expanded Dialogue · Use Unconventional Media to Express Your Ideas · Working Within the Art World

Jeff Koons

Teaches Art and Creativity

Jeff Koons teaches you how color, scale, form, and more can help you channel your creativity and create the art that’s in you.

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - You know, it's wonderful to make something and to want to share it with someone else. You make something and you're excited about it. You find something stimulating. You know, I would like to show this to someone. It's a wonderful moment, because it's an act of actually sharing, that something can go back and forth between two people-- that you can have this shared experience. Do they see it the same way that you do? Do they enjoy, let's say, the way you textured the background? Or do they enjoy the image that you have in the foreground? It's this type of dialogue of shared information. It's communication. If somebody does just want to make something and the only audience for that is themselves, I mean, it's fine. Everybody is free in this world to do anything that they want, and that's absolutely fantastic. But if somebody does want to share what they do, there is such a large audience that is there looking-- looking for stimulation, looking for ideas, looking to know what are the possibilities. [MUSIC PLAYING] The first time I ever showed my work was in my father's furniture store. So my parents were very, very supportive, and my father would always take every opportunity to-- you know, Jeff, can I take that painting that you're working on, and can I put it in my showroom window? And my father was really kind of my first dealer with my art works, and he place several of them in New York where I grew up. And it was encouraging to me. And I would be able to look at the showroom window and to see the work there, and-- but I took every opportunity, always, wherever I had a chance to exhibit. My mentor, Ed Paschke, always taught me, really, to be at the service of your work. Do everything to help yourself. Help the platform of your work. And that's what I always have tried to do. So by saying yes, it's giving an opportunity for other circumstances to come about-- other people to meet, to interact with, to have discussions about art-- other opportunities to show your work. [MUSIC PLAYING] AUCTIONEER: Jeff Koons' Inspired work, three basketballs submerged in a fish tank. [GAVEL BANGS] Sold at $150,000. MAN: $150,000. WOMAN: I don't understand it at all. MAN: All the vacuum cleaner does is pick up dirt. Almost all contemporary art, I see nothing-- nothing. JEFF KOONS: I know that there are a lot of young artists that are thinking about having exhibitions. So starting to participate in any manner that you can is fantastic. You develop the experiences of interacting with other people, the experience of showing your work-- people responding to it. It's really important that you're able to develop and be able to absorb criticism. And I know I talk about "criticality gone." I speak about the removal of judgment, of being-- to be open to everything and having acceptance. But it's amazing how people can say things, and some people are really affected by it. And I know...

About the Instructor

One of the most important and influential artists working today, Jeff Koons is perhaps best known for his iconic Balloon Dog. Now he’s inviting you to an intimate, thought-provoking conversation about the history, purpose, and pleasures of art. Learn how color, scale, form, and texture can help you express ideas and communicate with others. Leave your self-judgment and fear behind—the world is waiting for your art.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons teaches you how color, scale, form, and more can help you channel your creativity and create the art that’s in you.

Explore the Class