Tom Sachs On Collaborating With Frank Ocean On His Visual Art Project

The artist says the video was shot “in the past year.”

August 01, 2016

On Monday morning, people tuned into Frank Ocean's website to watch a video of a man building something in silence. The video was shot by Ocean collaborator Francisco Soriano, and at some point, the camera changed views and showed off a huge boombox, which is actually a work by artist Tom Sachs.

ADVERTISEMENT

The piece in Ocean's video, called Toyan’s, was made in 2002 and is currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum. In January 2015, Frank submitted a playlist to occasionally play as a part of that exhibit, which is called Tom Sachs: Boombox Retrospective 1999–2015. Sachs says Frank's playlist is his favorite of all the show's sets, including ones from Kanye West and Young Guru.

As Sachs told The FADER over the phone on Monday, Frank reached out to him about borrowing the piece and "advising him on some carpentry issues." Sachs was directly involved with the video, which he says "was shot in the past year."

ADVERTISEMENT

The two met "a few years ago" after Ocean called Sachs asking him to help with a project he was putting together. Although this video is their first public work together, Sachs said there are "other projects [they're] dicking around with" and the two have "an ongoing creative dialogue."

Sachs would not immediately reveal what the man is building in the video, and said, "you've got to watch it like everyone else and see." He continued, "I speak for all mankind when I say I can't wait to see what's to come."

ADVERTISEMENT
Tom Sachs On Collaborating With Frank Ocean On His Visual Art Project