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Kanye West has made it known that he is much more than a rapper. He's a total artist who controls his visual output like no one else. Whether it's his personal style, his fashion line, his creative collective (DONDA), his album covers, or his tours, he knows how to direct a project and support his music through art. He's often worked with high-profile artists such as Vanessa Beecroft and George Condo to accomplish everything from installations at listening parties to paintings of album covers.
With rumors of his new album (supposedly titled Rich Black American) floating around the Internet, we had to give our vote for who in the fine art world we think 'Ye should collaborate with next. A few of them may surprise you, but all of our selections were made with his track record, lyrics, and style choices in mind. Enjoy our take on 10 Artists Kanye West Should Work With. We'll see if he takes our advice.
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Tom Sachs
Tom Sachs
Mediums: Sculpture, Installation
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: Tom Sachs made a name for himself in the art world by juxtaposing fashion and violence, and Kanye has been a vocal supporter of his work. Given Sachs' ability to geniusly reimagine pop culture ephemera, along with his affinity for space travel ('Ye attended the opening of Sachs' SPACE PROGRAM: MARS), we think they could do incredible work together. The two are both known for being perfectionists, and we could see them doing an aesthetically futuristic, groundbreaking collaboration.
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Hedi Slimane
Hedi Slimane
Medium: Photography, Fashion Design, Art Direction
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: Hedi Slimane, former creative director of Dior Homme, current creative director of Saint Laurent Paris, and brilliant photographer, is already a friend of Kanye's, and the two have admitted to being fans of one another's work. He has an eye for what's classic in both art and fashion, creating iconic images and silhouettes that have earned him legendary status in his lifetime. While he doesn't collaborate with just anybody, we could see a dope visual project between him and Kanye. During a speech at the afterparty of his first fashion show in Paris, West name-dropped Slimane as a voice who guided him in the industry, saying, "The amount of people that tried to get me a celebrity f-ing deal. They said, 'You need to do boot-cut jeans, or you won't sell.' Shut the f-up ! Or Hedi Slimane in the motherf-ing Mercer, sitting with me, saying, 'Stop giving them your ideas, Kanye. Do your own thing.' Hedi Slimane! To feel so frustrated. And I thank anybody who came to this party, everybody who supported, everybody who believed, because people thought it was a joke, and maybe people still do, but I can only grow from this point." Kanye supports Hedi and vice versa, so what are they waiting for?
Andre Fu
Andre Fu
Medium: Hotel Designer
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: Kanye once rapped, "I just wanna design hotels and nail it" on "Clique" from the G.O.O.D. Music Cruel Summer album, and since we know he's not kidding, we think it's necessary that he give Andre Fu a call. Andre Fu is a Hong Kong-based hotel designer, who's been commissioned by the Four Seasons hotel group, the W hotel group, the Shangri-La hotel group, The Upper House, Galerie Perrotin, Ben Brown fine arts, Pure Fitness, Agnès b, and Lane Crawford. He's won countless awards and is one of the most in-demand hotel designers in the world. As he says, "A great hotel ought to tell a great story," and that sounds in line with Kanye's philosophy for his own work across fields. We think that the two are an artistic match and would nail any hotel they collaborated on.
Pharrell
Pharrell
Medium: Music Production, Singing, Rapping, Furniture Design, Sculpture, Fashion Design, Art Direction
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: You might think we're joking with this one, but we're not. Haters, fall back. Pharrell and Kanye are arguably the most design-inclined artists in the game, who have made music, fashion, and art that go beyond their roots in hip-hop. They are studied, they know how to keep their visual identities 100, and they have great chemistry musically. So why not do an artistic collaboration together? If Kanye can make scarves with artist George Condo, and if Pharrell can make a four-legged "Perspective" chair with Domeau & Pérès, why can't they come up with an art and design feat to stun us all? It's honestly only a matter of time, so maybe we just wanted to be the ones to call it.
Yoann Lemoine
Yoann Lemoine
Medium: Film Direction, Film Editing, Singing (as Woodkid)
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: You may have heard of Yoann Lemoine from the music videos he's directed for Katy Perry ("Teenage Dream"), Lana Del Rey ("Born to Die" and "Blue Jeans"), and Drake ("Take Care"), but that's just the tip of the iceberg. While Brendan at Pigeons and Planes already suggested that Kanye sign Lemoine's musical persona, Woodkid, to his label G.O.O.D. Music, we think the two need to do a visual collaboration, too. Whether it be stage production or music videos, Kanye would seriously benefit from Lemoine's visual genius and film expertise. 'Ye clearly digs Lemoine's style based on the screengrabs he tweeted from the "Born to Die" video last year.
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Nadav Kander
Nadav Kander
Medium: Photography
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: Nadav Kander's nude photography is a sight to behold. He challenges beauty through a style of body that typically goes uncelebrated in today's culture of stick-thin models and anorexic celebrities. Kanye is known for his love of curvaceous women; he raps about them, dates them, and has them nude on his album artwork (i.e. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and "Cold"). He also loves the rich, natural Renaissance aesthetic and a Baroque color palette, as reflected in his regal clothing choices and videos (think "Power"). Many believe that Kander's work references the full-figured female bodies of the Renaissance, and given his nearly monochromatic color scheme, we think he and Kanye would create next-level imaging for a variety of uses. Honestly, what are they waiting for?
Cai Guo-Qiang
Cai Guo-Qiang
Medium: Sculpture, Installation
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: Cai Guo-Qiang's work with gunpowder has made him well-known for pushing the boundaries of art in ways that have often scared, intimidated, and confused people in their scale and impact. Using large fireworks across expansive landscapes and buildings, Guo-Qiang's work stuns viewers both on and offline. Given Kanye's affinity for memorable shows and videos, many that include fire and explosions (i.e. the 34-minute Runaway film that had multiple scenes with fireworks), we know that he and Guo-Qiang would do something next-level.
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Audrey Kawasaki
Audrey Kawasaki
Medium: Painting
Why Kanye Should Work With Her: Audrey Kawasaki's paintings of women on wood are unmistakable. Influenced by Japanese manga and Art Nouveau, Kawasaki's work blends innocence and fantasy, depicting women as simultaneously beautiful, powerful, sexual, and other-worldly. Given Kanye's futuristic and space-themed overtones in his music and style (think "Spaceship," the artwork for Graduation, the Glow in the Dark tour, and his verse on Katy Perry's "E.T." remix), in addition to his appreciation of Asian art and architecture (not least of which includes this kimono he was recently spotted wearing), we think he'd do a killer collaboration with Audrey Kawasaki. We could see them doing everything from album packaging to installations and fashion design.
Hank Willis Thomas
Hank Willis Thomas
Medium: Photography, Sculpture, Installation
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: Hank Willis Thomas' art spans mediums effortlessly as he explores race, pop culture, visual culture, and the body. Much of his work specifically examines the African American male existence, but not in a way that's unrelatable to everyone else. However, given the supposed title of Kanye's next album, Rich Black American, it would make sense for him to work with a visual artist like Hank who knows how to discuss race in new, refreshing, and even humorous ways. It doesn't hurt that Hank Willis Thomas already made the physical version of an "Afro American Express" card, which may or may not be a reference to Kanye's line on "Last Call": "Oh my god, is that a black card?"/I turned around and replied, "Why yes/But I prefer the term African American Express." Either way, a collaboration between Hank Willis Thomas and Kanye West would be one for the history books.
Ryder Ripps
Ryder Ripps
Medium: Digital Art, Web Design, Art Direction
Why Kanye Should Work With Him: Anyone following digital art and groundbreaking viral marketing online knows about Ryder Ripps and his digital agency, OKFocus. He creates interactive websites that challenge the norms of design and give viewers the ability to do things they've never done before online. Having worked with M.I.A. on videos for a series of websites for her third album, /\/\ /\ Y /\, in addition to creating a new, interactive site for Tanlines' music video "Not the Same," Ripps and his company are poised to work with Kanye on some next-level Internet projects. Many in the creative community mourned the loss of Kanye's futuristic cityscape-looking culture blog and website, KanyeUniverseCity.com. Between the simplicity of KanyeWest.com and his limited tweets via @kanyewest, there's a lot of room for him to innovate and communicate artistically in the digital space. Whenever he's ready to do that, he should give Ripps and his team a call.