Jeff Koons

“The difference with show business and politics lies solely in the fact that the

artist is freer.”

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons

In 1975, a young art student moved to Chicago, where he studied at The School of the Art Institute and worked as a studio assistant to his hero, painter Ed Paschke, for $1 an hour.

Jeff Koons is now one of the world’s most famous artists.

Connections to his work can be made to Andy Warhol...

Jeff Koons

Since 1979 Koons has been making sculptures and paintings that challenge assumptions about art. Successor to the tradiotions of surrealism and pop. Many artists of his generation were experimenting with appropriation and engaging with the objects and imagery of mass culture.

“His work presents a panorama of our culture’s desires, fantasies, absurdities, banalities, and delights...” Madeleine Grynsztejn Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Jeff KoonsAPPROPRIATION

To appropriate something involves taking possession of it. In the visual arts, the term appropriation often refers to the use of borrowed elements in the creation of new work. The borrowed elements may include images, forms or styles from art history or from popular culture, or materials and techniques from non-art contexts. Since the 1980s the term has also referred more specifically to quoting the work of another artist to create a new work. The new work does not actually alter the original per se; the new work uses the original to create a new work. In most cases the original remains accessible as the original, without change.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_(art)

Jeff Koons

Michael Jackson and Bubbles, porcelain 198842 x 70.5 x 32.5 in

Jeff Koons

Michael Jackson and Bubbles, porcelain 198842 x 70.5 x 32.5 in

…the gospel of consumerism, and new saints appear: Buster Keaton, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, the Pink Panther. In Michael Jackson and Bubbles (1988) the pop singer and his monkeysurge from a bed of flowers like a hybrid between a classical Renaissance sculpture of Virgin and Child, a rococo centrepiece, and a souvenir from an imaginary Wonderland gift shop. To be able to embrace the past you need to be able to accept it as part of the present, accept that the present is informed by the past.”

Francesco BonamiArtistic Director & Curator

Jeff Koons

1985

Jeff Koons

1985

Jeff Koons

1986

Jeff Koons

Hulk Elvis I 2007

Jeff Koons

Auto 2001

Jeff Koons

Couple 2001

Jeff KoonsThinking & Inquiry

According to John Berger in Ways of Seeing, when we look at a work of art, we are affected by a whole series of learnt assumptions concerning:BeautyTruthGeniusCivilizationFormStatusTaste

Which of these is most important when considering artwork? Would you add anything to the list? Can you talk about the work of Jeff Koons using anything on this list?

Jeff KoonsThinking & Inquiry

Aim of work to date:Question learnt assumptions about art and how it is created.

Compare & contrast the work of Jeff Koons and…•Marcel Duchamp•Andy Warhol•Damien Hirst