The Taschen Collection: Art of our time
By Marga Paz
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
The Taschen Collection of contemporary art exemplifies the personal passion of its owner, a man who is undoubtedly one of the most innovative publishers of our time. Benedikt Taschen left the world of comic books behind over two decades ago to build an international reputation as a publishing revolutionary. His vision: to sell art and architecture books at reasonable prices - and at any venue, from supermarkets to specialized bookstores - of the same quality as the lavish and expensive art books that predated his. Add to that his notion that the best examples of an increasingly visually driven mass culture could also be published with the same attention to quality, and a new kind of publishing house was born.
Since then, his intuition for recognizing the greatest achievements of both pop culture and the fine arts has characterized the Taschen program, through which the essential elements of a modern visual culture can be discerned. It comes as no surprise that Taschen was attracted to the work of artists like Jeff Koons, Mike Kelley, Albert Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger and Wolfgang Tillmans for his personal collection - artists for whom productions of the popular art and mass culture of their times play an essential role, and whose works have become icons of contemporary visual culture. Benedikt Taschen's personal relationship with the artists he collects has been essential to the development of his collection. Rather than follow trends set by gallerists and art investors, his unequivocal focus has remained on a limited number of artists for whom he has a profound enthusiasm and commitment. Following his instincts has led him to possess a remarkable body of works, noteworthy for both its high quality and its range, which aptly displays in the evolution of the artists' careers. Over the years, he has continued to search for their best and most important works.
His collaboration with the artists he collects goes beyond simply publishing books about them and acquiring their works; he also involves them in other joint ventures. For example, Jeff Koons collaborated on the special edition of G.O.A.T. - Greatest of All Time, Taschen's epic book on the life of Muhammad Ali and its greatest publishing feat to-date. The shops opened by the publishing house in Paris and Los Angeles are decorated with works especially conceived for the spaces by Albert Oehlen, who also created a floor mosaic for the casino in its offices in Cologne.
This extensive, unusual and daring collection of "the art of our times" has thus been constructed from Benedikt Taschen's personal vantage point. He lives with this collection on a daily basis in his house and offices around the world, and he has zealously kept it out of the public eye, and only a few insiders had access to it.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
The Taschen Collection of contemporary art exemplifies the personal passion of its owner, a man who is undoubtedly one of the most innovative publishers of our time. Benedikt Taschen left the world of comic books behind over two decades ago to build an international reputation as a publishing revolutionary. His vision: to sell art and architecture books at reasonable prices - and at any venue, from supermarkets to specialized bookstores - of the same quality as the lavish and expensive art books that predated his. Add to that his notion that the best examples of an increasingly visually driven mass culture could also be published with the same attention to quality, and a new kind of publishing house was born.
Since then, his intuition for recognizing the greatest achievements of both pop culture and the fine arts has characterized the Taschen program, through which the essential elements of a modern visual culture can be discerned. It comes as no surprise that Taschen was attracted to the work of artists like Jeff Koons, Mike Kelley, Albert Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger and Wolfgang Tillmans for his personal collection - artists for whom productions of the popular art and mass culture of their times play an essential role, and whose works have become icons of contemporary visual culture. Benedikt Taschen's personal relationship with the artists he collects has been essential to the development of his collection. Rather than follow trends set by gallerists and art investors, his unequivocal focus has remained on a limited number of artists for whom he has a profound enthusiasm and commitment. Following his instincts has led him to possess a remarkable body of works, noteworthy for both its high quality and its range, which aptly displays in the evolution of the artists' careers. Over the years, he has continued to search for their best and most important works.
His collaboration with the artists he collects goes beyond simply publishing books about them and acquiring their works; he also involves them in other joint ventures. For example, Jeff Koons collaborated on the special edition of G.O.A.T. - Greatest of All Time, Taschen's epic book on the life of Muhammad Ali and its greatest publishing feat to-date. The shops opened by the publishing house in Paris and Los Angeles are decorated with works especially conceived for the spaces by Albert Oehlen, who also created a floor mosaic for the casino in its offices in Cologne.
This extensive, unusual and daring collection of "the art of our times" has thus been constructed from Benedikt Taschen's personal vantage point. He lives with this collection on a daily basis in his house and offices around the world, and he has zealously kept it out of the public eye, and only a few insiders had access to it.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Taschen Collection
Hardcover 11.7 x 16.5 in., 254 pages
$ 70.00
$ 70.00
The art of a particular moment in history from a new point of view
The Taschen Collection on show at Reina Sofia, Madrid, from October 20, 2004 to January 15, 2005. Photos: TASCHEN, Andrea Stappert
