Look Who's Talking: 2017 in Quotes

Tommy Hilfiger in Sotheby's Magazine.

"Basquiat was obsessed with Warhol and he wanted to be everything Andy was, and Andy was impressed with Basquiat because Basquiat was so irreverent, a part of the next generation.

Basquiat really didn't care what people thought about his work, he just did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it, and in the way he wanted to do it."

Read the full interview here .

We are now inviting consignments for our upcoming auctions.

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Kate Cowdrey

Will.i.am speaking at the British Fashion Council talk.

"It's 2017, and the new thing is called AI. It's more powerful than the Internet, because the Internet didn't think, the Internet didn't know you...It's about to enter society and it knows a lot. It's coming and it's going to be awesome. Are you a contributor?"

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Ambra Vernuccio/Ambra Vernuccio/Sotheby's

Pamela Anderson on the discussion panel for Erotic: Passion and Desire.

"I apply everything I learn to everything I do. Playboy was my university. I graduated with honours. It made me a better person, and a better activist."

We are now inviting consignments for our upcoming auctions.

Erotic: Passion & Desire 15 February 2018, Sotheby's London.

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Rowan Pelling, guest curator of Erotic: Passion and Desire.

"There's a disruptive quality to the best Erotica, which filters in to your dreams and waking fantasies. It doesn’t just seduce its audience — it transports them without permission."

We are now inviting consignments for our upcoming auctions.

Erotic: Passion & Desire 15 February 2018, Sotheby's London.

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Photo: Chris Floyd

Michael Clark for Contemporary Curated.

"From an early age I found sanctuary in the art gallery in Aberdeen. It’s where I discovered other worlds, and artists who questioned the very notion of technique, as I was trying to gain a technique of my own."

Watch the film here .

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Lady Laura Burlington on House Style at Chatsworth House.

"This project was a journey of discovery through the ages. It all began when looking for a christening gown for my son. Our head of textiles Susie Stokoe took us into a room piled high with boxes, and everything was there."

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Caroline Issa on her Contemporary Curated selection.

"Fashion exists in art and art in fashion. They are both highly creative. However, there is a clear distinction between how the fashion industry and the art world exist and operate. Art is there to question everything; fashion does not really have a critical quality in its everyday in the same way."

Read the full interview here .

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Christopher Kane on stage at Art Out Loud.

"My work isn't influenced by anyone else's work. I design in an instinctive way; I can be influenced by anything from a TV show, a film, or a swatch of fabric…I'm very happy with a stapler, I staple everything. It's super-fast, there's no time for pins. I'm a bit like Edward Scissorhands 'cause I've got always got a stapler in each hand and I work quickly!"

Read our interview with Christopher Kane here .

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Grayson Perry takes to the stage at Art Out Loud.

"It's absolutely vital what you call yourself. I’ve always called myself an artist, who happens to make ceramics."

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Sir David Attenborough on his friend Dame Lucie Rie.

"She was keen, she once told me, to discover just how Bernard Leach attached the handles of his tableware and asked him for lessons. She tried it, she told me, but was never happy with the results and soon went her own way."

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Yusaka Maezawa on his record-breaking Basquiat.

"I believe information sharing and openness allow things to become more fairly evaluated. My announcement of the Basquiat purchase on Instagram has provided an opportunity for the world to reassess and acknowledge the outstanding talent of the artist. On the other hand, I also look for the works of completely unknown and young artists on Instagram and actually purchase their works if I feel the quality is good…I like to share what I love with everyone."

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Dita von Teese speaks to Rowan Pelling for Erotic: Passion and Desire.

"I have a custom built bed. My bed has a mirror built into it, a beautiful vanity, sleeping beauty style silver mirror. And they built it with ice grey silk tufting all around it and I've had it made the perfect height for sex, because most beds are not tall enough, if one wanted to be standing next to the bed. I’m someone who has never had a TV in my bedroom. I dont work in my bed: I think it's a sacred place for two different things and that's it."

Watch Dita on collecting erotica here .

We are now inviting consignments for our upcoming auctions.

Erotic: Passion & Desire 15 February 2018, Sotheby's London.

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Glenn Close on her aunt Eleanor Post Close.

"I loved Aunt Eleanor's voice, as she expounded on art, religion, music or her great and lasting love of India. She was beautiful, witty, strong, fragile and eternally fascinating. I loved her – was in awe of her – and miss her, to this day."

Read the full interview here .

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John Waters on his friend Jean Stein.

"I could tell her anything and she wouldn't judge it. She enjoyed, like I do, art that causes trouble and at first makes you mad. She liked rule-breakers in everything. She had a world that I might not have had access to growing up, but I have a world that I know she doesn’t have an access to: I could take you to some great redneck bars in Baltimore that would scare the shit out of you; and she'd go. That's why she was such a good writer 'cause she was curious."

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Kathleen Turner on Edward Albee.

"I love Edward and I love his work. I think part of the power is that starkness and that truth. He didn't shelter his characters, he was very truthful and that strikes a chord with people."

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Luke Edward Hall interviewed for Sotheby's magazine.

"The creative process is the same whether I'm painting on canvas, designing a fabric or decorating a vase. These days I don't think it's terribly important or interesting to point out what qualifies as art and what doesn't."

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Mario Testino ahead of his Shake it Up sale.

"In the art world it's not enough to like something — you have to be puzzled by it. Art pushes our boundaries."

Watch the film here .

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Nick Offerman.

"I'm lucky enough that I get to act and spend time as a woodworker. I also write books and I tour as a humourist, and all of these things take up considerable chunks of my calendar. But to label myself, I would simply choose 'lucky bastard'."

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Sally Field.

"I was never aware of when Edward was watching rehearsal, thank goodness. I don't like to know when there are people in the audience that might make me a nervous wreck! He is notorious for wanting his actors to stay very much in the land which he created, and rightfully so. It was one of the gifts of my life to work with Edward."

Watch the film here .

We are now inviting consignments for our upcoming auctions.

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Tony Chambers photographed for Living in a Material World.

"As our lives become increasingly governed by the digital world, we have subsequently become more appreciative and sensitive to the analogue. We now crave the touch, the feel, even the smell of the material world."

Take a look at Tony's highlights from the Design sale here .

We are now inviting consignments for our upcoming auctions.

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Prabal Gurung in Sotheby's magazine.

"Art provides perspective and provokes one to engage in vibrant conversations about the crossover of art and fashion. Given our current climate, I believe that now more than ever, it is important for people to have a creative outlet for expression and dialogue, regardless of the medium."

Read the full interview here .

We are now inviting consignments for our upcoming auctions.

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