Tag Archives: Jeff Koons

Video: “Disaster Collection” by Majida Khattari

After the success of her art performances “Luxury, Oil & Arrogance” And “Merchant Migrant” at the FIAC Art Fair and Art Basel, for which she already created the  “Killy” Bags , in tribute to the”Kelly bag’ from Hermes, Majida Khattari is the link between this luxury accessory and political commitment.

The video-performance “Disaster Collection” is a response to the video by Louis Vuitton and Jeff Koons announcing the release of the “Masters Collection” .

Contemporary art is now becoming a factor of influence on the way of life of our Western societies in the same way as fashion and more particularly, the universe of luxury. Artists such as Jeff Koons know how to use the language of Marketing and Advertising to be successful. This is how art can be heard, spread to a wider audience and help disseminate its ideas.

Majida Khattari has been working on the links between fashion and society, luxury and art for more than twenty years. Inspired by the ‘Masters Collection’ by Jeff Koons for Louis Vuitton, the artist created a video- who wishes to question us about the influence of the universe of fashion and luxury on our perception of the world.

Because the backdrop of its bags are images of conflicts to attract our attention to victims: the war in Syria, the destruction of the cultural heritage, terrorist attacks in Istanbul, Paris, Manchester, the European calvary …
Using the same codes as fashion and luxury, Majida Khattari succeeded in raising awareness, and make us reflect on the current conflicts and their victims.

For more info: mkdisastercollection@gmail.com

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London: Jeff Koons NOW

Jeff Koons NOW

Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery just opened  ‘Now’, a solo exhibition of work by American artist Jeff Koons (b.1955). While the Parisian institution Centre Pompidou dedicated a major retrospective to the the artist in 2015 in Paris (covered),   ‘Now’  is the first major UK exhibition to be devoted to Koons since the Serpentine Gallery’s 2009 show, ‘Jeff Koons: Popeye Series’.

Spanning thirty-five years of the artist’s career, the exhibition  features thirty-six paintings, works on paper and sculptures dating from 1979 to 2014.  Drawn from Damien Hirst’s collection, a number of these works have never before been shown in the UK.

The Gallery 1 features early works from Jeff Koons like the Inflatable Flowers (1979) , the NEW (1980 -1986) with vacuum cleaners sculptures.

Jeff Koons NOW    Jeff Koons NOW
Jeff Koons - NOW

The Gallery 2  features a shiny giant Balloon Monkey (2006-2013) in  a mirror polished stainless steel with transparent blue colour coating.  ‘ It constantly reminds viewers of their existence, it’s all about you.  When you leave the room, it’s gone.’ The monumental sculpture  evoques of sensuality with its seductive polished finish and phallic tail.

Jeff Koons NOWJeff Koons - NOW    Jeff Koons - NOW

The next gallery hosts some of the erotic works from “Made in Heaven’ , from monumental sculpture of a Bowl with Eggs to large portraits of Jeff Koons and his then wife Ilona Staller.

Jeff Koons - NOW

The Gallery 4 contains iconic works from the basketsballs floating in a glass tank (1985) to  works from his series ‘ Luxury and Degradation’ with Jim Bean- JB Turner Train (1986) in stainless steel and the bust of Italian Woman (1986).

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Jeff Koons - NOW  Koons 19  Jeff Koons - NOW

From the ‘Popeye’ series, inflatable pool toys that interact with ready made objects are designed to fool the eyes. Looking like vinyl, they are cast in aluminium and meticulously painted to appear exactly like the real thing.

Jeff Koons - NOW
Jeff Koons - NOW  Jeff Koons - NOW  Jeff Koons - NOWJeff Koons - NOW    Jeff Koons - NOW

The last gallery features  Jeff Koons’s ongoing Celebration’ series from 1994 to 2014. The illusory Elephant (2003) and Titi (2004 -2009) appear to be fragile, air -filled inflatables, but are cast in heavy-weight stainless steel that mirrors  the viewers. The most technically challenging work of his career Play Doh (1994-2014) faithfully reproduces (in an enormous size) a small lump of modelling clay fashioned by his son. The twenty seven individual pieces are cast in aluminium and held together with their own weight.

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View the full set of pics here

The BBC just conducted an interview with both Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst

Jeff Koons – NOW
Until 15 Oct 2016
Newport Street Gallery
London

Paris: Jeff Koons Retrospective – Centre Pompidou

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

In collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Pompidou in Paris is currently presenting the first exhaustive retrospective devoted to Jeff Koons in Europe until 27 April 2015.

Through a chronological itinerary, the retrospective features around 100 sculptures and paintings sourced from all over the world, including all the landmarks in the artist’s career for the past 35 years.

Inspired by Marcel Duchamp “readymade’ objects, Jeff Koons started his first series Inflatables, by displaying coloured inflatable toys on mirrors. He then turned his attention to household appliances like the vacuum cleaner for his New series (1981), set in display cases illuminated by fluorescent light. They represent the American society aspiring to pragmatism and personal success through technology.

Jeff Koons Retrospective - PompidouJeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

Pursuing his topic of the American Dream with the desire for upward mobility, Jeff Koons used the notion of sports as a way for underpriviledged to climb the social ladder, and created the Equilibrium series (1985), where basketballs float in aquarium-like glass tanks.  In parallel he also challenged the notion of light objects in creating identical bronze casts (snorkel, Aqualung, lifeboat).

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou
Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

With Statuary, Jeff Koons replicated to the perfection familiar figurative decorative objects in stainless steel in order to appeal to widest public possible. Rabbit(1986)  is a perfect example. Using skilled artisans, he raised new heights in porcelain and sculpture on woods with his large scale works from the Banality series like Michael Jackson and Bubbles (1988).

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou  Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou   Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou
Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou     Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

Having married adult film star and Italian parliamentarian Ilona Staller, alias Cicciolina, Jeff Koons then decided to feature himself in explicit photographs set in dream-like landscapes or sculptures for Made in Heaven (1989-1991).

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

Based on the original photographs he was asked to produce for a calendar, Celebration features large scale paintings and monumental sculptures from hearts, beribboned eggs, party balloons and toys using cutting edge technology and craftspeople.

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou   Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou  Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou   Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

The hugely ambitious technical and financial demands of Celebration  resulted in a delayed public launch. So Jeff Koons responded with Easyfun, a series of playful mirror sculptures linked to childhood, illustrating animal shapes and cartoon esthectics.

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

Popeye and Hulk Elvis epitomise the American mass culture that Jeff Koons so values. Inspired by inflatable toys caught in unlikely situations, the sculptural objects are perfect replicas of the original models cast in aluminium and then painted over to create an illusion. The end result is so good that audience members and children are automatically fooled and attracted to touch the sculptures raising the alarm. A green Hulk appears to be screaming with his piano keyboard.

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou  Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou   Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou
Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou     Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

For the Antiquity series Jeff Koons revisits the landmarks of the history of art. His canvasses include a juxtaposition of photographs of inflatable objects and reproduction of statues of Aphrodite. The background, which evokes an abstract painting, may also conjure up the sea foam from which the goddess first emerged. In the foreground, Koons’s marker drawing of a sailboat makes a highly stylised allusion to Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World. The famous Palaeolithic Venus of Willendorf is transformed into Ballon Venus and so on.

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou  Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou  Jeff Koons Retrospective - PompidouJeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou    Jeff Koons Retrospective - PompidouJeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou  Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou  Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

Gazing Ball is Jeff Koons’s most recent series, featuring replicas of infamous masterpieces of classical sculpture. Created out of white plaster, they are adorned by a bright blue glass globe, a nod to his father’s furniture and decorative shop ornaments.

Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou     Jeff Koons Retrospective - Pompidou

Despite all the surrounding controversy and blatant narcissism, there is no denying that Jeff Koons ‘ artworks have gained perfection in their technique and end result.

View the full set of pics here

JEFF KOONS RETROSPECTIVE
Centre Pompidou – Paris
until 27 April 2015

London: Frieze Art Fair 2013

Frieze Art Fair 2013

Frieze Art Fair returns to London from 17 to 20 October 2013 showcasing 152 galleries from around the world. Highlights this year include the Gagosian Gallery, displaying five large scale works by pop artist Jeff Koons, from his stainless steel inflatable sculptures series to his Sacred Heart sculpture estimated to $2 billion.
Frieze Art Fair 2013 Frieze Art Fair 2013   Frieze Art Fair 2013  Frieze Art Fair 2013

At the Stephen Friedman Gallery booth, viewers can enjoy the ultimate rebirthing experience by interacting with a giant sculptural self portrait of American artist Jennifer Rubell by climbing into a cavity made in her pregnant stomach. Lisson Gallery is focusing on veteran minimalist Dan Graham’s spiraled plexiglas pavilion, which visitors can enter and be temporarily taken away from the crowd whilst still in full view. Gavin Brown has put in some fun with a series of humanoid traffic cone sculptures by Robb Pruitt.

Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013

Galerie Perrotin is displaying a golden sculpture, Naked self portrait with POM, by Takashi Murakami while numerous paintings and sculptures by Yoshimoto Nara can be seen at Pace Gallery and Blum & PoeAnd lastly, a series of photographs by Ryan McGinley, titled Me & My Friends is featured at the Team Gallery booth.
Frieze Art Fair 2013
Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013Frieze Art Fair 2013 Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013 Frieze Art Fair 2013     Frieze Art Fair 2013

View more pics from the Frieze Art Fair here

London: Jeff Koons x Dom Perignon sculpture package

Jeff Koons x Dom Pérignon

Earlier this year Jeff Koons x Dom Pérignon partnered to create the Balloon Venus Sculpture Package. During Frieze art week in London the Balloon Venus package was unveiled together with the launch of two special “Dom Pérignon by Jeff Koons” boxes, designed by Jeff Koons himself.

Jeff Koons x Dom Pérignon Jeff Koons x Dom Pérignon Jeff Koons x Dom Pérignon     Jeff Koons x Dom PérignonJeff Koons x Dom Pérignon

View pics from the private launch here

The Balloon Venus sculpture package is made to order for £15,500 along with the Dom Pérignon Vintage Rosé. Alternatively you can also opt for the special Koons boxes of Dom Pérignon Blanc de Blancs (£130) and Rosé (£315) sold online here.