New Ways of Seeing: Episode 1

In the first episode of New Ways of Seeing, Tiffany & Co.’s five-part video series on contemporary art, award-winning critic Jerry Saltz talks to three artists about how art presented a new way of seeing the world.

However we consume art – whether it’s within a gallery space or through our mobile screens – the objective remains the same: to provoke new ways of seeing our society and the world, through the unique perspectives of the artist.

But what constitutes art? How does it – as an ever-evolving medium – change minds or reinforces existing ideas? What role does societal conventions play in the consumption and creation of art? Tiffany & Co., an ardent supporter of the arts and the sponsor of the next three Whitney Biennials in New York, has commissioned cultural leaders to engage in critical conversations about these topics on art viewership in a five-part video series. Titled New Ways of Seeing, the films are inspired by the 1972 BBC series and book Ways of Seeing, which examined and challenged how we look at art, and the meaning of imagery through the context in which we view it.

“The new film series explores how the role of art has evolved alongside our lives, and ideas in the digital world that reflect how we consume information and record our creativity today,” explains Frederic Cumenal, CEO of Tiffany & Co..

For the first episode “Art Contains Multitudes”, influential art critic Jerry Saltz engages in playful yet insightful conversations with three contemporary artists. Portrait painter Kehinde Wiley shares his thoughts on how artists can revolutionise perception while artist Shantell Martin describes the simplicity behind her process. Irish artist Oliver Jeffers acknowledges the fine line between creation and destruction.

The second episode, featuring two-time Biennial artist Miranda July, will premier exclusively in Singapore on L’Officiel Singapore in the coming days. The remaining three New Ways of Seeing episodes will be released monthly. Watch this space!