Was born in the USA in the city of York, Pennsylvania. The boy’s father was a designer and furniture dealer; his mother was engaged in sewing clothes. Since childhood, Jeff loved to draw and even sold several of his paintings, placing them in his father’s store.
1955
Jeff Koons
description
An American artist and sculptor, one of the most popular and expensive masters of our time. Jeff Koons is a representative of Neo-pop art, which is a continuation of Pop art and focuses on the interests and needs of modern society.
The artist’s works are mainly installations and sculptures. The subjects of art for Koons are everyday things, which in the author’s interpretation become symbols of a certain phenomenon that occupies the minds of ordinary people. The most famous works of the artist are brilliant metal sculptures made in the form of balloons. The most well-known one is the “Balloon Dog” figure, which attracts with its simplicity and festive mood.
Jeff Koons treats his work as a commercial project, distributing and advertising his art as a special type of product. According to the author himself, his work does not express any deep ideas and subtext. They are a beautiful but meaningless thing, for which the artist is often called the “master of kitsch”. Many art lovers openly hate Jeff Koons for selling tasteless sculptures for a great deal of money and often using works by other authors to create his statues. However, despite all this, the works of the American sculptor are in high demand from the public, which forces art critics to change their ideas about what contemporary fine art looks like.
Key ideas:
– Like other Pop art painters, Jeff Koons juxtaposes high art and everyday things in his works. Like his idol Marcel Duchamp, he uses the so-called “readymade” things, which he places in such conditions that they lose their original purpose and become art objects.
– The art of Jeff Koons is very diverse. He creates large-scale human figures, sculptures resembling children’s toys, photographs of erotic content, installations with vacuum cleaners and posters that draw attention to serious social topics. Whatever the artist does, his main goal is to surprise, impress and shock the audience, make people think about many important things.
– Jeff Koons is a successful entrepreneur who actively sells his art. The artist himself does not deny that he is driven not only by a thirst for creativity but also the desire to earn as much money as possible. He advertises himself and creates deliberately recouped projects. The commercial component is as much a part of his art as his external manifestations.
– The American master is also known for the fact that he rarely works with his own hands but entrusts this to numerous workers in his workshops. The artist says that he is a generator of ideas, and they must be performed by specially trained people who have the required skills.
– The artist actively collaborates with various brands and famous people. Jeff Koons painted a model of a BMW car, became the author of the design of bags from H&M and came up with a cover for Lady Gaga’s album “Artpop”. Among his famous works is “Puppy” installed in Bilbao: a 13-meter sculpture of flowers placed on a metal structure.
1955
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2017
Was born in the USA in the city of York, Pennsylvania
He visited an exhibition of Chicago artist Jim Nutt
As a student at the Maryland Institute of the Arts in Baltimore, he visited an exhibition of Chicago artist Jim Nutt at the Whitney Museum in New York. This exhibition had a great influence on the work of Koons and contributed to his move to Chicago.
He moved to New York
After graduation, he moved to New York, where he worked at the Museum of Modern Art in a low position. At that time, Koons began to create his first works, which mainly were installations.
He began working as a broker
To earn more money for his work, he began working as a broker on Wall Street at First Investors Corporation. In the same year, the artist’s works were first presented at the New Museum’s exhibition on 14th Street in Lower Manhattan.
“Luxury and degradation”
Thanks to the series of works “Luxury and degradation”, the name of the artist became widely known among the American public. Koons founded a company to produce sculptures, where at first about 30 people worked.
Studied ceramics and porcelain in Italy and Germany
Studied ceramics and porcelain in Italy and Germany. Upon his return to America, he began work on the series of “Banality”, which glorified his name far beyond the borders of the United States. The thought-over advertising policy of the artist contributed to his popularity growth.
Married Ilona Steller
Married Ilona Steller, better known as pornographic star Cicciolina. The artist created several sculptures and photographs called “Made in Heaven”, depicting the couple’s intimate life in all its details. This marriage soon broke up, and the ex-wife forbade Koons to communicate with their son Louis through the court.
First demonstrated his works, made in the form of balloons of various shapes
First demonstrated his works, made in the form of balloons of various shapes. The most popular are his toy rabbits, inflatable dogs and hearts, which are sold for a lot of money.
The personal exhibition of the artist was held in Versailles
A personal exhibition of the artist was held in Versailles and caused a great resonance. The bright inflatable toys exhibited in the royal chambers angered connoisseurs of high art, who even organized a protest in front of the palace on the opening day of the exhibition.
Collaborated with famous singer Lady Gaga
Collaborated with famous singer Lady Gaga. The artist created a series of photos of the pop star, her large statue with the famous glass blue ball and the cover for the music album “Art Pop”. According to Lady Gaga herself, this work inspired her very much, and it “reflects her inner being like nothing else”.
The retrospective exhibition
A retrospective exhibition of works by Jeff Koons was held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. It featured more than 100 works in various genres, dating from 1978 to the present. This exhibition has become the largest artist exhibition in America. The exhibition was later displayed at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, and then at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
The Paris Supreme Court convicted Jeff Koons of plagiarism
The Paris Supreme Court convicted Jeff Koons of plagiarism. The object was the sculpture “Nudes” created in 1988, which the artist copied from a photograph of Jean-Francois Bauret. By a court decision, the artist and the Pompidou Center for the Arts in Paris, where the work was exhibited, are obliged to pay 40 thousand euros of compensation to the widow of the already deceased Bauret.