Jeff Koons

 

 

Jeff Koons is a contemporary artist from York, Pennsylvania. His work investigates contemporary fascinations such as sex and desire, celebrity media, commerce and fame, and race and gender. As Andy Warhol did, Koons hires artisans and technicians to make the actual work we see in museums and on streets. He doesn’t believe that hands are an important factor of an artist. “Art is really just communication of something and the more archetypal it is, the more communicative it is.” Koons’ artworks do not stimulate reasonable responses. In fact, this is apart of the importance of his achievement. In some of the photos, such as the Balloon Swan and Tulips were made out of stainless steel and modeled after balloons. His works avoid people’s normal ideals of what good taste is in art. He doesn’t listen to the traditional way of art and rarely stays inside the boundaries of what people believe it is. He labels some of his works under banality, which means lacking in creativity and originality. The first artwork, of the little girl with the teddy bear, is placed under this category. Another category he puts his artworks under is statuary. The second picture, “Doctors Delight”, is placed in this one. This also depicts one of the fascinations, sex and desire. This statue, as well as the pink balloon swan, was made from stainless steel. My favorite works of art I’ve looked at of Koons is definitely the ones where he models balloon animals. I always loved getting them at birthday parties so seeing large portrayals of different types was very interesting. The mirror-polished stainless steel brings the balloon depiction to life.