By Socratis Santik Oglou,
Throughout the years, we have seen Kendall Jenner popping in and out at some of the world’s biggest and most well-known art fairs — like Art Basel in Miami — while attending parties with her friends. But, as we saw in her August 2020 Architectural Digest issue, she has been doing more than that. Overnight, Kendall Jenner’s house became an inspiration in the media. And more than the cozy aesthetic interior of her home, she has a great art collection too, from multiple contemporary artists.
Kendall Jenner bought the house in Beverly Hills, once owned by the actor Charlie Sheen, for $8.55 million in October 2017. Interior designers mother and son Kathleen, Tommy Clements, and Waldo Fernandez were in charge of decorating the five-bedroom home and also almost completely renovating it. There is an open kitchen, a vintage pool, a bar, a wardrobe, a glam room with walls filled with magazine covers that star Kendall (Kim Kardashian, her stepsister started this idea of the wall of magazine covers), an art room with easels, and her bedroom even has its own sitting space with a sculpture by British artist Tracey Emin hanging on the wall.
From the moment you enter the house, you can take a glimpse of her art collection with the glowing James Turrell wall sculpture hanging in the entrance greeting the visitors with these animated by shifting, computer-programmed LED lights. “I have always been a huge Turrell fan. I was introduced to his work by Kanye [West-her brother-in-law], who collaborates with him”, Jenner explains. “I wanted this piece to be a focal point of the house, and I am so hyped to have it here”. Turrell is acknowledged for his contributions to the Light and Space movement and his unique way of expression through light.
Earlier this year, at the gallery’s joint presentation with Kayne Griffin Corcoran from Frieze Los Angeles, where it was priced at $750,000, a spokeswoman for Pace Gallery confirmed that Jenner had bought the piece. Scorpius, Medium Elliptical Glass (2019), shown in press images from the fair as a horizontal oval, looks to have been turned sideways by Jenner as well. She also says that it helps her relax and meditate because of its calming colors.
Across her cozy living room in the hallways, hung two big art pieces from artist Barbara Kruger. Kruger is a conceptual painter and collage artist; her collage work, which combines black-and-white photos with assertive words written in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Ultra Condensed font, is what she is best known for. These artworks consist of snapshots of Marilyn Monroe’s portrait overlaid with the words “GOOD” and “EVIL”, seen hiding behind a pair of arches in her all marble — all green kitchen sitting room, just above her modest wooden tables and chairs, she hangs on the wall shots from typical fashion editorials — like a print of shirtless of William Klein’s “Hat and Five Roses”, which he shot for Vogue in 1956.
In the sitting area of her bedroom, a Tracey Emin neon sculpture hangs on the wall just above the two-way fireplace. Emin is well-known for her honest and autobiographical works; she creates art using a variety of media, including neon text, sewing, appliqué, video, photography, and sculpture. In this case, she has a sign that writes her boyfriend’s size, but it became controversial because of the wrong spelling of “your” on the text. On the other side of the room, she has a pair of 18th-century Italian-painted door panels that she got from her mother to remind her of her childhood because they had them in all of their homes throughout the years.
This is just a glimpse of her art collection that we only got to see in her Architectural Digest issue and her Instagram posts. But there are many to see further than her iconic aesthetic furniture in her LA home. She owns some great art pieces in her house and as we saw, at least in my opinion, she has great taste too. Other artists in Jenner’s collection include Richard Prince, Raymond Pettibon, and Sterling Ruby. From the iconic James Turrell light sculpture to the controversial Barbara Kruger, she has favored contemporary art, while the different media are showcasing, maybe, her way of expressing herself.
References
- Inside Supermodel Kendall Jenner’s Tranquil Los Angeles Home, architectural digest.com, Available here
- Kendall Jenner Shows Off Her $750,000 James Turrell Sculpture on the Cover of Architectural Digest (But Did She Hang It Sideways?), news.artnet.com, Available here
