A Jeff Koons Masterclass

Jeff Koons is now teaching a masterclass on Art and Creativity on Masterclass. Why would you sign up - or why might you not?

1. Great Trailer

There's a video on YouTube which acts as a trailer for the 2 hour Masterclass by Jeff Koons - see below.

Trailer for Jeff Koons’ MasterClass lesson. Courtesy of MasterClass / YouTube

2. Masterclass Subscription

Having a subscription is great for those wanting to learn as it means no big one-off outlays.

Plus subscriptions are also great for content providers. That's because 

• if you get the right people to provide content - and the experience is valued, you're making money as soon as you've recovered the sunk costs of paying for the contributor - in this case Jeff Koons and the cost of the video. Thereafter it is "passive income" - which just goes on rolling in - so long as the contributor continues to be "a name".
• people forget they are still subscribing and hence the subscription continues to generate income for a long time after people have stopped looking at the content. (I've got a magazine subscription I really should sort out.....). 

3. BUT no other masterclasses by artists ?

So does this mean that Masterclass is getting into art? 

The thing is Jeff Koons is the ONLY artist who has so far delivered a Masterclass about art for Masterclass. 

It has nine categories - of which Arts and Entertainment is one (i.e. music, writing, acting, theatre, film-making, magic, screenwriting, choreography etc etc).

Bottom line  THERE IS NO OTHER ARTIST TEACHING ART ON MASTERCLASS.

So why would you subscribe - just for one person? Particularly if that one person has a particular take on art

Here's what the New York Times thinks:

• CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK: Can Jeff Koons Teach Me to Paint? By Andrew Russeth (27 December 2020)
• as in I couldn't find anybody else who's taken the class and written about it!

Really, this is a sumptuously produced infomercial for Mr. Koons’s art, and the best moments — the funniest, the weirdest — are when he feels free to cast off his teaching responsibilities and just talk giddily about his art, not yours, and his zest for Titian and Rubens, Bernini and Queirolo. (Women do not figure in this curriculum.)

Personally speaking I don't like how Masterclass handles Privacy - where they seem to make a virtue out of something that should be a LOT more upfront and transparent and controllable than it is (.e. I want to switch off cookies before entering the site). Instead it reinforces my notion of them as a "a slick operation". I think they might very well be breaking the law in relation to certain territories - but I'll wait for our own pet dragon (the Information Commissioner) to take that on.....

Notes: This is the Press Release - which tells you just how much you read elsewhere is actually original writing as opposed to regurgitation of the press release.

This is what it has to say about Masterclass (this is them not me)

ABOUT MASTERCLASS:
Launched in 2015, MasterClass is the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world's best. With an annual membership, subscribers get unlimited access to 100+ instructors and classes across a wide range of subjects, including Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing and more. Step into Anna Wintour's office, Ron Finley's garden and Neil Gaiman's writing retreat. Get inspired by RuPaul, perfect your pitch with Shonda Rhimes, and discover your inner negotiator with Chris Voss. Each class features about 20 video lessons, at an average of 10 minutes per lesson. You can learn on your own terms—in bite-size pieces or in a single binge. Cinematic visuals and close-up, hands-on demonstrations make you feel like you're one-on-one with the instructors, while the downloadable instructor guides help reinforce your learning. Stream thousands of lessons anywhere, anytime, on mobile, tablet, desktop, Apple TV®, Android™ TV, Amazon Fire TV® and Roku® players and devices.