3 Things We Learned From Deborah Kass’s Lenny Interview

Image by Instagram/thisisdru
Deborah Kass made headlines in November when her sculpture “OY/YO” was installed in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The much-Instagrammed, bright yellow aluminum sculpture of the letters “O” and “Y,” close to 8 feet tall, reads “OY” to viewers from Brooklyn and “YO” to those from Manhattan.

Image by Instagram/dianaalutto
Earlier today, Lena Dunham’s Lenny published parts of an extensive interview with Kass by Jacoba Urist. Here are the most interesting things we learned from it.
Her closest female friendships are outside the art world
While Kass told Urist that when she first moved to New York it was a “very female-heavy time” in the art world, and she felt close to the other women she met in that space, the art world has since shifted in its dynamics.
“My deep and very long-term female friendships aren’t necessarily art-world ones,” she said. “The politics of the industry, of any industry really, affect friendships.”
She sees a big relationship between Barbra Streisand and Beyoncé
One of Kass’ most impactful projects was “Jewish Jackie,” in which she famously depicted Barbra Streisand in a visual quote of Andy Warhol’s portraits of Jackie Kennedy. To Kass, Barbra is one of a few major female symbols of the last few decades.
“First there was Barbra. Then there was Madonna. Now there is Beyoncé,” she said. “There are other talents, of course, but not with the symbolic value of these women. And what do they have in common? They control their narrative; they’re in charge.”
She thinks the art world has become less diverse in the last forty years
While Kass acknowledged that, in the art world, there is “a little more room now for people who aren’t white,” she thinks the changes in the size of the art market have made the industry more exclusive.
“Art today is a real billion-, gazillion-dollar business,” she said. “It’s a nonregulated market that’s manipulated by white guys,” she added. “So it represents them, even more than it used to.”
Talya Zax is the Forward’s summer culture fellow. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A Jewish city attorney is going after pro-Palestinian protesters. Her Oct. 7 tweets are making it complicated.
-
Fast Forward Kehlani responds to Cornell concert cancellation: ‘I am not antisemitic’
-
Fast Forward David Horowitz, ’60s radical turned right-wing firebrand and critic of Islam, dies at 86
-
News Pro-Nazi singer sells out Zagreb arena as Croatia’s collaborationist past sheds its taboo
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.