Jeff Koons is one of those artists the world has a love/hate relationship with. Some of his works are downright gross, yet many of his works are downright adorable. Either way, they get you thinking, and that’s what art is all about, right?
When I worked at the art gallery with drollgirl, if there was one book we pulled out of our artist library more than Sam Francis, it was Jeff Koons. And while with Sam Francis, we were always doing some form of research, looking up a series of works or another, with Koons, it was usually to get a giggle or to reference Michael Jackson. However, if either of us could’ve gotten our hands on a Balloon Dog sculpture or Dog Vase {both seen here} we would have jumped for literal joy.
Biography
Jeff Koons plays with ideas of taste, pleasure, celebrity, and commerce. “I believe in advertisement and media completely,” he says. “My art and my personal life are based in it.” Working with seductive commercial materials (such as the high chromium stainless steel of his “Balloon Dog” sculptures or his vinyl “Inflatables”), shifts of scale, and an elaborate studio system involving many technicians, Koons turns banal objects into high art icons. His paintings and sculptures borrow widely from art-historical techniques and styles; although often seen as ironic or tongue-in-cheek, Koons insists his practice is earnest and optimistic. “I’ve always loved Surrealism and Dada and Pop, so I just follow my interests and focus on them,” he says. “When you do that, things become very metaphysical.” The “Banality” series that brought him fame in the 1980s included pseudo-Baroque sculptures of subjects like Michael Jackson with his pet ape, while his monumental topiaries, like the floral Puppy (1992), reference 17th-century French garden design.
Additionally while Koons ultimately crafts a singular brand of luxury, it’s peppered with human experience and hints of universal truths that have the power to allure an audience and cancel out the intimidation factor that so often construes art to be an upper-class commodity or conceptually incomprehensible.
Read more about the artist via: How Jeff Koons Inspires Awe, Outrage, and Ultimately Makes Art You Will Remember
See more Jeff Koons works at Artsy.com
