7 entries, with sources
Vincent Desiderio·2008
West studied Desiderio's 24-foot panorama of tangled sleeping bodies as a model for visual sampling, then restaged its exact composition and voyeuristic tone for the 2016 'Famous' video and the accompanying Blum & Poe sculptural tableau.
Desiderio told NPR that West contacted him after studying the painting and deliberately staged the living tableau to quote it directly.
George Condo·2010
Over eight to ten studio sessions on the Upper East Side, West worked directly with Condo to translate the album's themes into fractured, tragicomic figures, including a ballerina image developed after West showed Condo slow-motion footage of dancer Sylvie Guillem.
Condo described the sessions, the listening process, and the specific genesis of the ballerina image in a Vulture interview.
Vanessa Beecroft·1993-present
West called Beecroft's austere, uniform arrangements of human figures 'a piece of my brain' after she staged the living installation for his 808s & Heartbreak listening event and later for multiple Yeezy runway presentations.
West's 2015 Oxford University address quote and reporting on Beecroft's staged installations for his listening events and fashion shows.
Louise Bourgeois·2007
West selected a 2007 red wet-on-wet gouache of a pregnant figure by Bourgeois, made the same year his mother Donda died, as the visual centerpiece of the 'Donda' promotional campaign.
Reporting confirms the studio visit to Château La Coste and the specific selection of the 2007 gouache for the campaign.
Takashi Murakami·2006-2018
West traveled to Murakami's Kaikai Kiki studio in Asaka, Japan in 2006 to develop the 'Graduation' album art, later re-engaging Murakami for visual work on 'Kids See Ghosts' in 2018.
Reporting confirms the 2006 studio visit for 'Graduation' and the later 2018 collaboration.
Wes Lang·2013
West collected Lang's hand-lettered, skull-and-Americana gouache drawings and commissioned him to design the visual iconography and merchandise for the 2013 'Yeezus' tour.
Lang described the collecting relationship and the tour commission in a GQ interview.
Yves Klein·1957-1962
West is said to have used Klein's exact ultramarine pigment across packaging and lighting for 'Jesus Is King' and Sunday Service staging, though the specific sourcing of this claim is thin.
A single secondary source mentions the use of Klein's blue in connection with West's visual campaigns, without direct quotation or primary confirmation.