-
Overview
"I've always enjoyed feeling a connection to the avant-garde, such as Dada and surrealism and pop art. The only thing the artist can do is be honest with themselves and make the art they want to make. That's what I've always done."
Jeff Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1955. He studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1976. Koons lives and works in New York City.
Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, Koons’s work has been shown in major galleries and institutions throughout the world. His Celebration sculptures were the subject of exhibitions on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the Neue National galerie in Berlin. Château de Versailles opened its doors to a living artist for the first time with Jeff Koons: Versailles, where a selection of his work were presented within the Grand Apartments. The Whitney Museum of American Art presented the most comprehensive survey of Koons’s career to date in 2014, Jeff Koons: A Retrospective (June 27 through October 19, 2014). This exhibition went on tour and was on view at the Pompidou Centre Paris (November 26, 2014 through April 27, 2015), and will travel on to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (June 9 through September 27, 2015).
Koons earned renown for his public sculptures, such as the monumental floral sculpture Puppy (1992), shown at Rockefeller Center and permanently installed at the Guggenheim Bilbao. Another floral sculpture, Split-Rocker (2000), previously installed at the Papal Palace in Avignon, Château de Versailles, and Fondation Beyeler Basel, wason view at Rockefeller Center .
Jeff Koons has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his cultural achievements. Notably, Koons received the Governor’s Awards for the Arts “Distinguished Arts Award” from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; the “Golden Plate Award” from the Academy of Achievement; President Jacques Chirac promoted Koons to Officier de la Legion d’Honneur; and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton honored Koons with the State Department’s Medal of the Arts for his outstanding commitment to the Art in Embassies Program and international cultural exchange. Koons has been a board member of The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) since 2002, and co-founded the Koons Family International Law and Policy Institute with ICMEC; for the purpose of combating global issues of child abduction and exploitation and to protect the world’s children.
-
Selected Works by Jeff Koons
-
-
-
Series
Jeff Koons
Gazing Ball (van Gogh Wheatfield with Cypresses), 2017Archival pigment print on Innova rag paper, glass35 3/8 x 42 1/4 in
89.9 x 107.2 cmEdition of 20Series: Gazing BallsCopyright The ArtistJeff Koons' Gazing Ball series of prints represents a fascinating exploration of art, perception, and cultural commentary. Introduced in 2013, this series builds upon Koons' longstanding interest in themes of...Jeff Koons' Gazing Ball series of prints represents a fascinating exploration of art, perception, and cultural commentary. Introduced in 2013, this series builds upon Koons' longstanding interest in themes of consumerism, popular culture, and the nature of representation.
At the heart of the Gazing Ball series is the juxtaposition of high art and everyday objects. Each print features a reproduction of a famous masterpiece from art history, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Édouard Manet's Olympia, paired with a reflective blue gazing ball placed in front of the artwork. The gazing ball, a common garden ornament, serves as a symbol of ordinary domesticity and invites viewers to reconsider their relationship to the art historical canon.
By incorporating the gazing ball into his compositions, Koons introduces a sense of ambiguity and reflexivity. The reflective surface of the gazing ball distorts and refracts the image of the masterpiece behind it, blurring the boundaries between the original artwork and its reproduction. This distortion prompts viewers to question the authenticity and aura of the original masterpiece, as well as their own role as spectators.
Furthermore, the gazing ball acts as a metaphor for the act of looking itself. As viewers gaze into the reflective surface, they become aware of their own presence and subjectivity, highlighting the performative nature of perception. Koons' use of the gazing ball encourages viewers to engage actively with the artwork, inviting them to reflect not only on the images themselves but also on the act of looking and the construction of meaning.
The Gazing Ball series also carries political and social undertones, particularly in its critique of consumer culture and the art market. By juxtaposing iconic works of art with mass-produced objects, Koons draws attention to the commodification of culture and the role of art as a status symbol. Additionally, the inclusion of the gazing ball as a symbol of suburban domesticity challenges traditional notions of taste and class, prompting viewers to reconsider hierarchies of cultural value.
Overall, Jeff Koons' Gazing Ball series of prints represents a thought-provoking exploration of art, representation, and spectatorship. Through his playful yet poignant juxtapositions, Koons invites viewers to interrogate the boundaries between high and low culture, originality and reproduction, and authenticity and artifice. In doing so, he challenges us to reconsider our preconceptions about art and invites us to engage more deeply with the world around us.
