Jeff Koons Artist Catalog

8/10/2019 Jeff Koons Artist Catalog

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KOONSKOONS

KOONSKOONSKOONSKOONS

KOONSKOONSKOONS

KOONSKOONS

SELECTED WORK


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JEFF

KOONSSELECTED WORK


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3.

BIOGRAPHY

7.SOLO EXHIBITIONS

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

COLLECTIONS

11.INTERVIEW

19.KOONS WORK

C O N T E N T


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eff Koons doesnt necessarily look like an artistand

certainly not one whos been slaving away in a garrison.

In fact, he often looks more like hes running for office,

dressed in a suit and tie, his hair neatly cropped, aneffervescent smile perpetually at the ready. But few artists

truly embody their approach to making art as fully as Koons

does. He is as All-American as it gets, a son of the Rust

Belt (the industrial burg of York, Pennsylvania, to be specific)

with an unbridled affinity for concepts that many artists

actively try to disavow, like consumerism, accessibility, and

populism.

reating his work, Koons operates more like the self-

made CEO of a small corporate enterprise, directing andproject-managing it into being with the support of a staff of

more than 100 artisans and assistants in his West Chelsea

studio. But the fact that Koonss life as an artist began as

an off-hours endeavor supported by day jobs, working at

the membership desk at the Museum of Modern Art and

as a commodities broker on Wall Street, and eventually

led to a robust retrospective in 2008 at the Chteau de

Versaillesthe same year Koonss pieces reportedly sold

for a cumulative $117.2 million at auctiontells you all

you need to know about the kind of populist mythmakingthat has frequently colored, and often fueled, his art. His

work has drawn on the broad iconography of everything

from Roman statues and classical busts to Michael

Jackson, Popeye, balloon dogs, and household objects

like basketballs and Hoover vacuum cleaners, playing with

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B I O G R A P H Y J

C


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4

FEW ARTISTS TRULY EMBODY THEIR APPROACHTO MAKING ART AS FULLY AS KOONS DOES

sca e an context e some para ax us on o uc amp


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sca e an context e some para ax us on o uc amp,Dal, and Disney. Koons has also liberally inserted himself

into is work, sometimes explicitly, as in his controversial

Made in Heaven series, which was first exhibited in

1990, and more often through his runaway ambition and

perfectionism, as in Celebration, a long-gestating cycle

begun during a period when Koons was going through a

divorce and faced near-bankruptcy.

oons, of course, has not only rebounded over the last

decade, but flourished, producing a prodigious amount of

work, including his Popeye series, his bronze-and-wood

Hulks (Bell), and his magenta Balloon Venus and turquoise

Metallic Venus pieces. In 2012, he was the subject of two

connected large-scale exhibitions in Frankfurt, Germany

one at the Schirn Kunsthalle, which focused primarily on

his paintings, and another at the Liebieghaus featuring

his sculptural work. The Whitney is also in the process of

planning a major retrospective of his work set to open

in 2014, and in September, it was announced that Koons

would be consulting with New York State on designs for anew Tappan Zee Bridge.

reating his work, Koons operates more like the self-

made CEO of a small corporate enterprise, directing and

project-managing it into being with the support of a staff of

more than 100 artisans and assistants in his West Chelsea

studio. But the fact that Koonss life as an artist began as

an off-hours endeavor supported by day jobs, working at

the membership desk at the Museum of Modern Art and

as a commodities broker on Wall Street, and eventually

led to a robust retrospective in 2008 at the Chteau de

Versaillesthe same year Koonss pieces reportedly sold

for a cumulative $117.2 million at auctiontells you all you

need to know about this populist.

5

K

C


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6

KOONS, OF COURSE, HAS NOT ONLY

REBOUNDED OVER THE LAST DECADE,

BUT FLOURISHED


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Museum of Contemporary Art / Chicago, Illinois / 1988 and 2008

Walker Art Center / Minneapolis, Minnesota / 1993

Museum of Contemporary Art / Sydney, Australia / 1995

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao / Bilbao, Spain / 1997

Deutsche Guggenheim / Berlin, Germany / 2000Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli / Naples, Italy / 2003

Victoria and Albert Museum / London, England / 2006

Metropolitan Muesum of Art / New York, New York / 2008

Neue Nationalgalerie / Berlin, Germany / 2008

S O L O E X H I B I T I O N S

G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N SLighting / P.S. 1 / New York, New York / 1981

Skulptur / Projekte / Mnster, Germany / 1987Whitney Biennial / Whitney Museum of American Art /

New York, New York / 1987 and 1989

Carnegie International / Carnegie Museum of Art /

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / 1988

Biennale of Sydney / Sydney, Australia / 1990

American Art in the Twentieth Century / Royal Academy of Arts /

7 C O L L E C T I O N SARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst / Copenhagen, Denmark

Astrup Fearnley Museet / Oslo, Norway

Art Gallery of New South Wales / New South Wales, Australia


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8

INSTALLATION VIEW OF LOOPY AND SANDWICHES


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10

INSTALLATION VIEW OF LIPS AND ELEPHANT


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INTE


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INTER

VIEW

IthinkIwasdrawntoPopeyebecauseitmakesre

ference

toourpaternalgeneration,liketheparentsofpeopleofmy

generation.Iwouldt

hinkthattopeoplelikemyfather,andthe

peopleofhisgeneration,Popeyeislikeamalepriapist.Soif

youthinkinancientterms,hewouldhaveaharem

,asymbolof

maleenergy.Popeye

takesthatspinach,andstren

gthcomes-

artkindofbringstha

ttranscendenceintoourlife,

soIlikethese

parallels.Thisenhancementofsensation.Ithinkartteachesus

howtofeel,whatou

rparameterscanbe,whatse

nsationscan

belike;itmakesyou

moreengagedwithlife.

Youhadaninterestingexhibition

titled

PopeyeSeriesinLondon

[in2009].WhythatPopeyeimagein

particular?

Ithinkthatitissome

signfromsocietythatatleastsome

individualsfindsome

worthinthepieceanditisw

orth

protectingandsaving,thatthereissomeculturalvalue.When

thingsbecomemore

expensive,youwouldbelieveoryou

wouldliketobelievethatpeoplewanttoprotectthem

becausetheywanttosafeguardthisstorage,this

kindofa

value.Butattheend

oftheday,theartisticexperienceisabout

findingyourownparametersformyselfasanartist,havingas

intenseandasvividalifeexperienceaspossible-a

ndthento

tryingtocommunica

tethattoothers.

Someofyourartworkhasfetched

enormousprices.BalloonFlower

(Mag

enta)soldformorethan

12m

illionpounds.Doyouseeit

asamarkofrecognition,orisit

completelyacademictoyou?

Tomakeanyartwork

isalwaystobeopentoeverything.Id

justhadmyMadeinHeavenexhibition,andIdreallyopened

myselfupforthebaroqueandtherococo.Ibecam

eaware

ofthosefloralsculpturesofNorthernItalyandBavaria.SoI

thought,Oh,itwouldbenicetomakealivingwork,awork

Your

famoussculpturePuppy,in

Bilba

o,isabout40feethigh.Wh

at

kind

ofchallengesdiditpresent

to

you?

ASYMBOLOF

MALEENERGY


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KOON


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WORK


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vinyl, mirrors

32 x 25 x 18 inches

81.3 x 63.5 x 45.7 cm

1979

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I N F L A T A B L E F L O W E R

A N D B U N N Y


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R A B B I T

stainless steel

41 x 19 x 12 inches

104.1 x 48.3 x 30.5 cm

Edition of 3 plus AP

1986


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LOO

PY

oiloncanvas

108x791/4inch

es

274.3x201.3cm

1999


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oil on canvas

120 x 168 inches

304.8 x 426.7 cm

2000

L I P S

25


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LOBSTER

p

olychromed

a

luminum,coated

s

teelchain

9

7x187/8x37inches

2

46.4x47.9x94cm

E

ditionof3plusAP

2

0 0 3

27


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LOBSTER

high

chromiumstainless

stee

lwithtransparent

colo

rcoating

577

/8x187/8x37

inch

es

147

x47.9x94cm

2007-2012

2003


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G A Z I N G B A L L

( A R I A D N E )

plaster and glass

44 5/16 x 93 7/8 x

36 5/8 inches

112.6 x 238.4 x 93 cm

edition of 3 plus

1 AP

2013


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high chromium stainless steel

with transparent color coating

138 x 119 x 94 inches

350.5 x 302.3 x 238.8 cm

5 unique versions (Magenta,

Blue, Violet, Yellow, Red)

2004-2011

31

B A L L O O N S W A

( M A G E N T A )


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P U P P Y

stainless steel, wood (at Arolsen only), soil, geo

fabric, internal irrigation system, live flowering p486 x 486 x 256 inches

1234.4 x 1234.4 x 650.2 cm

Installations at arolsen 1992, sydney 1995-96, bi

1997 (permanent installation), new york rockefel

2000, private collection (permanent installation)

1992

-Rockefeller Center shown


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O N E B A L L

5 0 / 5 0 T A N K

glass, steel, distilled water,

one basketball64 3/4 x 30 3/4 x 13 1/4 inches

164.5 x 78.1 x 33.7 cm

Edition of 2

1985


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B A L L O O N D O G

( Y E L L O W )

high chromium stainless steel

with transparent color coating

121 x 143 x 45 inches

307.3 x 363.2 x 114.3 cm

5 unique versions (Blue,

Magenta, Yellow, Orange, Red)

1994-2000


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C O L O P H O N


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C O L O P H O N

This is the first edition of this

book printed at PhiladelphiaUniversityin November 2014.

This edition is limited to one

copy. The cover and spreads

were designed by Colin Hyland.

Fonts used in this book are

Corporate,Univers, Raleway,

and Clarendon.


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Documents

Jeff Koons Artist Catalog