Jeff Koons, born in York, Pennsylvania on January 21, 1955, is an artist whose work has earned him copious amounts of attention and controversy and has art critics divided on whether he should be taken seriously or not. Koons received his B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1976 where he majored in painting after spending a brief year studying painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Koons is most famous for creating giant brightly colored sculptures of banal objects out of stainless steel with mirror finishes. The piece he is most famous for is titled
Puppy, a forty-three feet tall stainless steel sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier puppy made with an internal irrigation system, live plants and soil. The surface of the sculpture is covered in live plants, thus the need for the irrigation system. Koons has a studio in Chelsea, Manhattan where he has employed more than 120 assistants who, under his strict supervision, create his art pieces ranging from sculpture and glass work to photography, inflatables and painting.
The subject matter of Koons work has varied greatly with no real common theme to speak of except that it is almost always random and vapid. His work has featured naked provocative women, balloon animals, inflatable pool toys, the cartoon icon Popeye and himself in various sexual positions with his then wife Llona Staller, amongst other objects. Koons' work is art for art sake. He has made it clear that there is no meaning behind any of his pieces and that they are completely free of concept. Because of this, Koons has been accused of elevating unashamed kitsch into the high art arena. He has been dismissed by several art critics as creating work that is artificial, cheap and unabashedly cynical and catering to tacky rich people.
Jeff Koons official
website.
Interview with Jeff Koons by The Art Newspaper.com
Jeff Koons work is now on display at the
Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, California.
Inflatable Flower and Bunny, vinyl and mirrors, 1979
Hulk Jungle, oil on canvas, 2005
Dirty - Jeff On Top, plastic, 1991
Puppy, stainless steel, 1992
Inflatable Flower and Bunny, vinyl and mirrors, 1979
Hulk Jungle, oil on canvas, 2005
Dirty - Jeff On Top, plastic, 1991
Puppy, stainless steel, 1992
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