Jeff koons brief biography of adolf

A common trope in ancient and classical art, Koons notes that, "You could be looking at a Venus of Willendorf or some of the oldest Venuses. It is really about beauty and even a sense of contemplation, a sense of ease. Koons comparison of this sculpture, which seems to depict a teenage girl, with the Roman goddess of sex and fertility, however, drew some criticism for the sexualization of young women.

Based on a small porcelain figurine by the Ukrainian artist, Oksana Zhnikrup, who produced a range of similar designs for factory production in the Soviet Union, Koons has scaled the image up to create a larger-than-life rendering in futuristic color-coated steel. In doing so, he revisits questions about art, industrial production and mass market appeal, a discussion that is particularly applicable to his own practice, in which multiple copies of the same work are created by industrial processes this sculpture is one of four produced.

The reflective surface of the piece allows the viewer to see themselves in the sculpture. As Koons notes, "in a reflective surface, your existence is being affirmed. When you move, your abstracted reflection changes. The experience is dependent upon you; it lets you know that art is happening inside of you. Most notable on this front, however, are his Gazing Ball paintings and sculptures in which he had assistants meticulously copy Old Master paintings and classical sculptures.

On or in front of these were placed blue shiny spheres which reflected the viewer and their surroundings and inserted them into the artwork. As Koons explains this demonstrates both "the vastness of the universe and at the same time the intimacy of right here, right now". His father was a furniture dealer and worked as an interior designer and decorator, whilst his mother was a seamstress.

By the age of eight, he had begun creating replicas of Old Master paintings, which he signed 'Jeffrey Koons' and sold in his father's shop. Keen to meet his hero, he called the hotel that Dali was staying at in New York City and was put through. Dali offered to meet Koons and they attended an exhibition of his work at the Knoedler Gallery together.

After graduating from high school, Koons enrolled at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where he continued to cultivate his interest in Dali, painting Neo-Surrealist dreamscapes. The exhibition was a watershed moment in Koons' life and on the basis of it he transferred to Chicago in order to work with Nutt and other Imagist teachers, among them Karl Wirsum and Ed Paschke.

Jeff koons brief biography of adolf

Wirsum and Nutt were both members of the group, The Hairy Who, known for their bright, often grotesque paintings inspired by consumer culture. He was awarded an honorary degree from the Chicago Institute of Art some 30 years later. Inafter graduating from college, Koons moved to Manhattan and took a job selling memberships at the Museum of Modern Art a job he has said that he hugely excelled at.

He also became involved in the East Village Art scene, an alternative community of artists who rejected the mainstream art world and embraced counter-culture aesthetics including graffiti. This created a vibrant melting pot of new ideas that inspired music, poetry, writing, and the visual arts and provided a platform that launched some of the great names of late th century art including Peter HalleyJoan Wallace, and Ashley Bickerton.

Spurred on by the culture of creation and experimentation around him, it was during this period that Koons first began producing his inflatable sculptures, a concept that would become a hallmark of his practice. InKoons left MoMA and began selling stocks and mutual funds for the First Investors Corporation and, later, for Smith-Barney, building on his background in sales.

This financed the body of work that became The New. The exhibition, which was designed to look like a showroom, presented vacuum cleaners in illuminated plexiglass boxes. In he started creating The Equilibrium series which consisted of basketballs floating in tanks of distilled water alongside posters of basketball stars. These works can be viewed as forming part of East Village Art and particularly the Neo-Geo movement, in which pieces were used to criticize and parody consumer culture and the commercialization of the modern art world.

Koons received critical acclaim for these early works and only three years after this public debut, famous critic Roberta Smith declared him one "of the strangest and jeff koons brief biography of adolf unique of contemporary artists". The New Series garnered Koons significant critical attention throughout the early s, but it was not until that he achieved major media traction, when he - along with fellow artists Peter Halley, Ashley Bickerton, and Meyer Vaisman - made the much publicized jump to the esteemed Sonnabend Gallery, collectively acquiring the title "The Hot Four" on the cover of New York Magazine.

Two years later, Koons unveiled Banality which catapulted him to international fame. This series of lifesize sculptures combined the sentimental aesthetic of collectable figurines with celebrity and pop culture imagery. Koons released his most controversial series, Made in Heaven in This consisted of large photographs and sculptures depicting him nude and in sexually explicit acts with Ilona Staller, the famed Italian porn star also known as Ciccolina.

Having seen Staller featured in European magazines, Koons flew to Rome to suggest they collaborate, and this resulted in the photographic sessions that formed the basis for the series. During their time together, the two fell in love, despite neither speaking the other's language. Brazenly flouting conventions of good taste, the series elicited an overwhelmingly condemnatory response from critics, threatening to dethrone Koons from art world preeminence.

Ultimately, however, Made in Heaven proved the adage that any publicity is good publicity. News from Missouri to Helsinki covered Koons' outrageous suite of pictures, and his subsequent engagement to Staller. Staller and Koons married in and had a son, Ludwig, in The marriage broke up soon after and Staller returned to Italy with Ludwig, prompting Koons to destroy many of the works in the series and instigating a custody battle for their son that continued for over a decade.

During the early s, Koons was sued several times for copyright infringement over his use of commercial and artistic source material in his pieces. The cases were all upheld and included the prominent Koons vs Rogers in which Art Rogers, a professional photographer, agreed an out of court settlement with Koons after it was demonstrated that Koons' sculpture String of Puppies from the Banality series was a copy of the Rogers' photograph Puppies Originally conceived in the Celebration series is still being manufactured today and consists of 20 highly polished stainless jeff koons brief biography of adolf designs, each of which has been produced in different colors.

Some of the sculptures reference Koons' earlier Inflatables series and feature a range of objects including a balloon dog, monkey, swan and different types of balloon flowers, whilst others are oversized hearts, diamonds and eggs. All the objects are related to personal and festive celebrations such as birthday parties, Valentine's Day, and Easter - while Balloon Dog has become particularly iconic.

The initial stages of the project were beset by serious financial difficulties and this resulted in a cancelled exhibition at the New York Guggenheim in During this difficult period in his career, Koons married the artist Justine Wheeler, who he had originally employed in his studio. The pair have six children and live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Subsequently Koons managed to convince investors and dealers to finance the project before its completion and the sculptures were widely exhibited from the early s. Even though Koons was the subject of numerous copyright infringement claims, Koons launched his own inissuing a cease and desist letter to Park Life, a San Francisco book shop and gallery, who were selling balloon dog bookends.

The case was dropped early in after the lawyer representing the bookstore filed a complaint for declaratory relief, stating that, "As virtually any clown can attest, no one owns the idea of making a balloon dog, and the shape created by twisting a balloon into a dog-like form is part of the public domain Jeff Koons LLC purports to represent the intellectual property rights of Jeff Koons, a retired stockbroker whose sculptures and other works are well-known for copying pre-existing forms and images from popular culture.

Between andKoons worked on two series which referenced cartoon characters, Popeye and Hulk Elvis and included sculptures, oil paintings and collages. He also worked with Lady Gaga on her studio album, Artpopcreating the sculpture which featured on the cover. Riding the wave of interest and rising values of contemporary art, his work in recent years has continued to explore themes relating to sexuality, celebrity, consumerism, and childhood.

His works are now created in a studio in Hudson Yards, New York City where he employs between 90 and assistants. He moved his operation to its current location from long-time Chelsea studio in Commissioned by the former United States Ambassador to France it was intended to be a memorial to those who lost their lives in the and terror attacks in the city.

Featuring a hand that emerges from the ground and clutches a spray of balloon flowers, reminiscent of his earlier work Tulipsthe piece has been beset by controversy. When the project was first outlined inmembers of the French cultural establishment published an open letter in the daily newspaper Liberation calling the piece, "opportunistic and even cynical" and requesting that the scheme was cancelled.

The letter sparked a public outcry and many aspects of the project were criticized from the design itself to the cost. As a result of this pressure, the planned location of the piece was moved to a less prominent location and the work was funded by private donors, rather than using taxpayers' money. Join the mailing list. Send an email. Preferences and functionality Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.

Statistics Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website. Marketing Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing. Inthe Whitney, the museum that gave Koons a huge jolt of artistic inspiration as a student, held a retrospective of his body of work, the first to do so.

We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Frida Kahlo. Jean-Michel Basquiat. Beyond record-breaking sales, Jeff Koons has seen numerous accolades and achievements throughout his career:. While Jeff Koons maintains a relatively low profile in the realm of personal social media, fans and art enthusiasts can find updates about his works and exhibitions through official museum and gallery channels.

Primarily known as a world-class keynote speaker and magician, Vinh Giang is also an entrepreneur several times over, ha Mick Ebeling is a producer, author, entrepreneur, technological trailblazer, and philanthropist. He is best known as the John Christopher Hallman, known professionally as J. Hallman, is a critically acclaimed American author of both fictio Sal Godoij is a dedicated and seasoned writer with a career spanning over 23 years in the publishing industry.

His works Jeff Koons. Early life. Net Worth.