Following Salvador Dali in terms of provocativeness and financial prosperity, Jeff Koons, the pioneer of appropriation, erases the line between art and banality. His vacuum cleaners may be seen as an homage to the ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp, while the most famous pieces - balloon animals made of steel - trick our perception in the manner of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Tattooed Pigs, Gothic Trucks, and Sex-Rays of Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye" data-excerpt="Today we’ll take a look at the works by a Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye (born 1965), who is well-known for his ability to combine incongruous things, which will make your brain explode. Crazy Man This.." data-featured-image="https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wim-delvoye-6-1050x420.jpg?t=1625166865" class="smart-content-link sc-link" href="https://shungagallery.com/wim-delvoye/">Wim Delvoye. Crossing the borders between art and other spheres, Koons also blends art and pornography. The result of this blending was shown in his Made in Heaven exposition, which consisted of pornographic shots and sculptures featuring himself and his wife, porn actress Cicciolina.
Fig. 1. Jeff Koons (gq.com)
Fig. 2. The cover of Artpop made by Koons, 2013 (livejournal.com)
Fig. 3. Beach House, oil on canvas 102 x 138 inches, 2003, Popeye series (jeffkoons.com)
Fig. 4. Hot Dog, Easyfan-Ethereal series, oil on canvas, 108 x 84 inches, 2002 (jeffkoons.com)
Fig. 5. Gazing Ball (Ariadne), plaster and glass, 44 3/8 x 93 7/8 x 36 5/8 inches, 2013 (twitter.com)
Fig. 6. Gazing Ball (Farnese Hercules), plaster and glass, 128 1/2 x 67 x 48 5/8 inches, 2013 (twitter.com)
Fig. 7. Dolphin, mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating, 20 1/8 x 78 3/8 x 37 1/2 inches, 2007 (twitter.com)
Fig. 8. Caterpillar Ladder (Wall), polychromed aluminum and aluminum, 93 3/8 x 41 7/16 x 43 15/16 inches, 2007-2011 (twitter.com)
Fig. 9. Acrobat, polychromed aluminum, galvanized steel, wood, and straw, 90 1/8 x 58 1/4 x 25 1/2 inches, 2007-2011 (jeffkoons.com)
Fig. 10. Triple Elvis, oil on canvas, oil on canvas 108 x 93 inches, 2003 (twitter.com)
Fig. 11. Rabbit, Statuary series, stainless steel, 41 x 19 x 12 inches (twitter.com)
Fig. 12. Pink Panther, Banality series, porcelain, 41 x 20 1/2 x 19 inches, 1988 (twitter.com)
Fig. 13. Woman in Tub, Banality series, porcelain, 23 3/4 x 36 x 27 inches, 1988 (twitter.com)
Artist, Admirer, Broker
Jeffrey Lynn Koons (b. 1955) originates from a family of a furniture dealer and a seamstress. Gifted kid, Koons copied the old masters already at eight and signed copies with his name. Things wouldn't change years later as the artist would lose many lawsuits for copyright infringement. In the 1970s, he studied painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His main inspiration was Salvador Dali. As Koons recalls in his Instagram, at nineteen, he had a chance to meet the artist at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. At the meeting, young Koons was invited by Dali to his exhibition at the Knoedler Gallery, where the Spanish painter posed him for several photographs. When, three years later, Koons began working at the membership desk of the Museum of Modern Art, he dyed his hair red and wore a pencil mustache after Dali. Interestingly, in 1980, Koons became a Wall Street commodities broker at First Investors Corporation, as if being also inspired by the sarcastic anagram of Dali's name, Avida Dollars/I Want Money, invented by Andre Breton. His other artistic inspiration was Polish surrealist Ed Pashke, to whom he assisted in the late 1970s.
Fig. 14. I took several photos of Dali during our meeting, including this portrait where he posed after preparing himself by twirling his moustache upwards in front of his Royal Tiger painting. He was extremely generous, - Jeff Koons (Instagram.com).
Fig. 15. Inflatable Flower and Bunny (Tall White, Pink Bunny), vinyl and mirrors, 32 x 25 x 19 inches, 1978 (twitter.com)
Fig. 16. New Hoover Quik Broom, New Hoover Celebrity IV, two vacuum cleaners, acrylic, and fluorescent lights, 56 x 22 x 19 1/4 inches, 1980 (twitter.com)
Fig. 17. Hennessy, The Civilized Way to Lay Down the Law, Luxury and Degradation series, oil inks on canvas, 45 x 60 inches, 1986 (jeffkoons.com)
Fig. 18. Buster Keaton, Banality series, polychromed wood, 65 3/4 x 50 x 26 1/2 inches, 1988 (jeffkoons.com)
Fig. 19. Michael Jackson and Bubbles, Banality series, porcelain, 42 x 70 1/2 x 32 1/2 inches, 1988 (jeffkoons.com)
Between Warhol and Wonka
His first series of works, consisting of inflatable figures and mirrors, Koons created as a student. In the 1980s, with the money earned at the stock market, he presented The New ready-made series, which consisted of several hoovers. Later works were devoted to pop culture and advertising. Having gained recognition, Koons set up a factory-like studio in a SoHo loft with over 30 assistants, similar to Andy Warhol's Factory. One of his iconic series, Banality, was created with the art fabrication method, implying the production of artworks beyond an individual artist's studio. To produce porcelain figurines of pop characters like Michael Jackson, Koons hired ceramic workshops in Germany and Italy..
Fig. 20. Jeff Koons and Ilona Staller, 1990s (pinterest.com)
Fig. 21. leparisien.fr
Fig.22. Made in Heaven billboard, 1989
Fig.23. Made In Heaven (1989)
Fig.24. .Made In Heaven (1989)
Jeff Koons is active on Istagram
In the extended Premium edition we're going to explore the artistic relationship between Koons and his Italian muse Cicciolina that resulted in, among other things, the controversial Made In Heaven series. Furthermore, attention is paid to Cicciolina's adult film career, all interspersed with 70 daring photos.
Click HERE for an article on Christina Lindberg, one of the beguiling star of 1970s exploitation movies
Sources: Wikipedia.org; jeffkoons.com; britannica.com; instagram.com/jeffkoons/; cummanifesto.blogspot.com