Jeff Koons is an artist known to be inspired by items not typically considered art, such as inflatable plastic toys or vacuum cleaners. He strips industrially-made objects for their practical purposes and presents them as art. He took an interest in art at an early age. Born in Pennsylvania, Jeff Koons at the age of eight created replicas of Old Master paintings. He would sign them ‘Jeffrey Koons’ and sell them at his father’s antique shop. He idolized Salvador Dali, and when enrolled in the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, he painted net-surrealist dreamscapes inspired by him.

Koons went to Chicago in 1974 in order to work with Chicago Imagist Jim Nutt along with other Imagist teachers after viewing Jim Nutt’s exhibition. One of these teachers was Paschke for whom Koons studied under for a year. When returning to his college, Koons graduated with a B.F.A in 1976, and 30 years later, he was awarded an honorary degree from the Chicago Institute of Art.

In 1977, he moved to Manhattan and sold memberships at MOMA. While staying in New York City, he met David Salle and Julian Schnabel, well-known artists in New York. He explored the New Wave and Punk music scenes at the clubs CBGB and the Mudd Club. This is when he started producing his first inflatable sculptures. After MOMA, he sold stocks and mutual funds for the First Investors Corporation. This built his knowledge in sales and led him to finance The New Series. He debuted The New Series in 1980 in the New Museum’s storefront window, which included “three illuminated vacuum cleaners encased in plexiglass vitrines” (Epstein). The New Series attracted much attention throughout the early 1980s. Critic Roberta Smith recognized him as one of the “the strangest and most unique of contemporary artists.” His dislike for abstract art is what brought him recognition.

The New Series (1980)

Koons, Peter Halley, Ashley Bickerton, and Meyer Vaisman were titled “The Hot Four” on the cover of the New York Magazine. These artists made the jump from International With Monument gallery to the esteemed Sonnabend gallery. Koons revealed his Banality series in 1988 which features “sculptural amalgamations of stuffed animals, plush toys, and magazine imagery” (Epstein). This series led him to obtain international fame. It debuted around the same time at Sonnabend Gallery in NY, Max Hetzler in Cologne, and Donald Young in Chicago. This series 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.      

Banality (1988)                                                             Puppy (1992)

         

He became further established when being featured in the Time Magazine and on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. About a year later, Koons’ series, Made in Heaven, was established to be his most controversial series. This series consists of monumental photographs depicting him nude and in sexually explicit acts with his girlfriend, soon-to-be wife, Ilona Staler. She was a famed porn star also known as “La Ciccolina.” Critics and the public condemned this series and threatened to remove Koons from high status. However, this series proved the maxim that any publicity is good publicity.

Ever since then, Koons’ reputation grew. Jeff Koons recent work explores themes of sexuality, kitsch, celebrity, consumerism, and childhood. His other series include Hulk Elvis, Gazing Ball, and Balloon Dog, which is highly supported by the critics. “Kitsch and high culture, religion and eroticism, weightlessness and mass are among the apparent opposites that mix and mingle his work” (Epstein).

Koons has a long-lasting legacy. He has been a major influence on contemporary artists exploring advertising strategies, commercialism, Duchampian conceptualism, and pop aesthetics. Mike Kelley, Isa Gentzken, Darren Bader, and Nick Darmstaedter are a few artists who have been impacted by his work. Damien Hirst is an artist in England whose art parallels Koons’ in the United States. His famous shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde is especially indebted to Koon’s early work. Koons advertising laid the foundation for Hank Willis, who delved into racial implications of contemporary marketing imagery. Overall, Koons presents us with the clash between high art and pop culture. His aesthetic sculptures challenge the viewer.

Works Cited:

Epstein, Ruth, editor. “Jeff Koons Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-koons-jeff.htm. Accessed 17 Nov. 2017.

“Jeff Koons.” Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/jeff-koons. Accessed 22 Nov. 2017.