Jeffrey Lynn Koons (/kuːnz/; born January 21, 1955)^[1] is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, includingballoon animals produced instainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in bothNew York City and his hometown ofYork,Pennsylvania. His works have sold for substantial sums, including at least tworecord auction prices for a work by a living artist: US$58.4 million forBalloon Dog (Orange) in 2013^[2] and US$91.1 million forRabbit in 2019.^[3][4]

Jeff Koons
Koons in 2014
Born	Jeffrey Lynn Koons (1955-01-21)January 21, 1955 (age 70) York, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	School of the Art Institute of Chicago Maryland Institute College of Art,Baltimore
Known for	Artist
Notable work	Rabbit (1986) Puppy (1992) Balloon Dog (1994–2000)
Spouses	Ilona Staller ​ (m. 1991⁠–⁠1994)​ Justine Wheeler
Website	jeffkoons.com

Critics come sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work askitsch, crass, and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons has stated that there are no hidden meanings or critiques in his works.^[5][6]

Koons was born inYork, Pennsylvania, to Henry Koons and Nancy Loomis. His father^[7] was a furniture dealer and interior decorator. His mother was a seamstress.^[8] When he was nine years old, his father would place old master paintings that Koons copied and signed in the window of his shop in an attempt to attract visitors.^[9] As a child he went door-to-door after school selling gift-wrapping paper and candy to earn pocket money.^[10] As a teenager he reveredSalvador Dalí so much that he visited him at theSt. Regis Hotel in New York City.^[11]

Koons studied painting at theMaryland Institute College of Art inBaltimore before transferring to theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied from 1975 to 1976.^[12][13] While a student at the Art Institute, Koons met the artistEd Paschke, who became a major influence and for whom Koons worked as a studio assistant in the late 1970s.^[14] He lived inLakeview, and then in thePilsen neighborhood atHalsted Street and 19th Street.^[15]

After college, Koons moved to New York in 1977^[16] and worked at the membership desk of theMuseum of Modern Art^[17] while establishing himself as an artist. During this time, he dyed his hair red and often wore a pencil mustache, after Salvador Dalí.^[16] In 1980, he became licensed to sellmutual funds and stocks and began working as aWall Streetcommodities broker at First Investors Corporation. After a summer with his parents inSarasota, Florida, where he briefly worked as a politicalcanvasser, Koons returned to New York and found a new career as a commodities broker, first at Clayton Brokerage Company and then atSmith Barney.^[16]

Following his graduation from the Art Institute in Chicago in 1976, Koons made his way to New York City. There, he moved away from creating representations of his personal fantasies and began to explore objective art, commerce, and politics.^[18] He rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as part of a generation of artists who explored the meaning of art in a newly media-saturated era with his Pre-new The New series.^[19][18]With recognition came the establishment of a factory-like studio located in a loft at the corner ofHouston Street andBroadway in New York inSoHo. It was staffed with over 30 assistants, each assigned to a different aspect of producing his work—in a similar mode asAndy Warhol'sFactory. Koons's work is produced using a method known asart fabrication.^[20] Until 2019, Koons had a 1,500 m² (16,000 sq ft) studio factory near the old Hudson rail yards^[21] inChelsea employing 90 to 120^[21] assistants to produce his work.^[8] More recently, Koons has downsized staffing and shifted to more automated forms of production and relocated to a much smaller studio space.^[22] He now uses technology to create his artistic references on computers and color-corrects them until he is satisfied with the results.^[23] To ensure consistency, Koons implemented acolor-by-numbers system, so that each of his assistants^[24] could execute his canvases and sculptures as if they had been done "by a single hand".^[7] Throughout his career, he has consistently explored themes such asconsumerist behavior, seduction, banality, and childhood, among others.^[25]

Jeff Koons first began experimenting with the use of ready-made objects and modes of display in his apartment in 1976. His fascination with the extravagant world of luxurious goods and their more affordable counterparts led him to collect items like toys, metallic finishes, leopard skin, and porcelain.^[18] Between 1977 and 1979 Koons produced four separate artworks, which he later referred to as Early Works. In 1978 he began working on hisInflatables series, consisting of inflatable flowers and a rabbit of various heights and colors, positioned along with mirrors.^[26] Koons drew inspiration fromRobert Smithson's emphasis on display and connected his work to his father's furniture store displays. He documented his work through photography, using it as a means of exploring different installation techniques.^[18]

Since 1979 Koons has produced work within series.^[27] His early work was in the form of conceptual sculpture, an example of which isThe Pre-New, a series of domestic objects attached to light fixtures, resulting in strange new configurations. Another example isThe New, a series ofvacuum-cleaners, often selected for brand names that appealed to the artist like the iconicHoover, which he had mounted in illuminatedPerspex boxes. Koons first exhibited these pieces in the window of theNew Museum in New York in 1980. He chose a limited combination of vacuum cleaners and arranged them in cabinets accordingly, juxtaposing the verticality of the upright cleaners with the squat cylinders of the "Shelton Wet/Dry drum" cleaners. At the museum, the machines were displayed as if in ashowroom, and oriented around a central red fluorescent lightbox with just the words "The New" written on it as if it were announcing some new concept or marketing brand.^[28] They were shown again in a major solo show atJeff Koons: The New Encased Works at Daniel Weinberg Gallery in 1987.^[29]

Another example for Koons's early work isThe Equilibrium Series (1983), consisting of one to threebasketballs floating indistilled water, a project the artist had researched with the help ofNobel Prize-winning physicistRichard Feynman.^[7] TheTotal Equilibrium Tanks are completely filled with distilled water and a small amount of ordinary salt, to assist the hollow balls in remaining suspended in the centre of the liquid. In a second version, the50/50 Tanks, only half the tank is filled with distilled water, with the result that the balls float half in and half out of the water.^[30] In addition, Koons conceived and fabricated five unique works for theEncased series (1983–1993/98), sculptures consisting of stacked sporting balls (four rows of six basketballs each, and one row of six soccer balls) with their original cardboard packaging in glass display case.^[31] Also part of theEquilibrium series are posters featuring basketball stars inNike advertisements and 10 bronze objects, representing lifesaving gear.

In 1986, Jeff Koons introduced the Statuary series, featuring ten pieces that reimagined his earlierinflatable series from the 1970s. The series aimed to illustrate how art often mirrors self-perception and evolves into decorative expression by presenting a panoramic view of society. The sculptures drew inspiration from historical figures likeLouis XIV andBob Hope, as well as other art historical themes and sources. Through Statuary, Koons redirected his artistic focus toward the concept of artistic taste and the societal role of art.^[32][18] He incorporated some readymade objects, including the inflatable rabbit, and transformed them into highly polished stainless-steel pieces. This led to the creation of one of his most iconic works,Rabbit (1986).^[18]

There are three identical versions ofRabbit. One version was previously part of art collectorStefan Edlis's personal collection, but it now resides as a gift at theMuseum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and another in The Broad Museum in Los Angeles.^[33] In May 15, 2019, Jeff Koons set arecord for most expensive piece sold by a living artist, for the sale of "Rabbit". The third version of the piece was sold atChristie's Auction House for US$80 million which. After including auctioneer's fees, the final sale price of "Rabbit" was US$91,075,000.^[3][4]

TheRabbit has since returned to its original soft form, and many times larger at more than 50 feet high, taken to the air. On October 15, 2009, the giant metallic monochrome color rabbit used during the 2007Macy'sThanksgiving day parade^[34] was put on display forNuit Blanche in theEaton Centre in Toronto.^[35] The other objects of the series combine objects Koons found in souvenir shops and baroque imagery, thereby playing with the distinction between low art and high art.^[36]

First shown in Koons's eponymous exhibitions at the short-lived International With Monument Gallery, New York, and at Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, in 1986, theLuxury and Degradation series is a group of works thematically centered onalcohol.^[37] This group included a stainless steel travel cocktail cabinet, aBaccarat crystal decanter and other hand-made renderings of alcohol-related paraphernalia, as well as reprinted and framedads for drinks such asGordon's Gin ("I Could Go for Something Gordon's"),Hennessy ("Hennessy, The Civilized Way to Lay Down the Law"),Bacardi ("Aquí... el gran sabor del ron Bacardi"),Dewars ("The Empire State of Scotch"),Martell ("I Assume You Drink Martell") andFrangelico ("Stay in Tonight" and "Find a Quiet Table")^[38] in seductively intensified colors on canvas^[8] Koons appropriated these advertisements and revalued them by recontextualizing them into artworks. They "deliver a critique of traditional advertising that supportsBaudrillard's censorious view of the obscene promiscuity of consumer signs".^[39] Another work,Jim Beam – J.B. Turner Engine (1986), is based on a commemorative, collectible in bottle in the form of alocomotive that was created byJim Beam; however, Koons appropriated this model and had it cast in gleaming stainless-steel.^[40] The train model cast in steel titledJim Beam – Baggage Car (1986) even contains Jim Beam bourbon.^[41][42] With theLuxury and Degradation series Koons interfered into the realms of the social. He created an artificial and gleaming surface which represented aproletarian luxury. It was interpreted as seduction by simulation because it was fake luxury. Being the producer of this deception brought him to a kind of leadership, as he commented himself.^[43]

The same material of stainless steel was used for the statue ofKiepenkerl. After being rebuilt in the 1950s, the figure of the itinerant trader was replaced by Jeff Koons in 1987 for the decennialSkulptur Projekte exhibition. Standing on a central square in Münster, the statue retained a certain cultural power as a nostalgic symbol of the past.^[44] During the production process, the foundry where the piece was being made wanted to knock the ceramic shell off too soon, which resulted in the piece being bent and deformed. Koons decided to bring in a specialist and give the piece "radical plastic surgery." After this experience he felt liberated: "I was now free to work with objects that did not necessarily pre-exist. I could create models."^[45]

Koons then moved on to theBanality series. For this project he engaged workshops in Germany and Italy that had a long tradition of working inceramic,porcelain, and wood.^[16] The series culminated in 1988 withMichael Jackson and Bubbles, a series of three life-size gold-leaf platedporcelain statues of the sitting singer cuddling Bubbles, his pet chimpanzee. Three years later, one of these sold atSotheby's New York for US$5.6 million.^[46] Two of these sculptures are now at theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art andthe Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) in downtown Los Angeles. The statue was included in a 2004 retrospective at theAstrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo which traveled a year later to theHelsinki City Art Museum. It also featured in his second retrospective at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in 2008. The statue is currently part of the collection at theAstrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art atTjuvholmen in Oslo.^[47] His workChrist and the Lamb (1988) has been analyzed as an acknowledgment and critique of the spiritual and meditative power of the Rococo.^[48]

Anticipating a less than generous critical response to his 1988Banality series exhibition, with all of his new objects made in an edition of three,^[49] allowing for simultaneous, identical shows at galleries in New York, Cologne, and Chicago, Koons devised theArt Magazine Ads series (1988–1989).^[50] Placed inArtforum,Art in America,Flash Art, and Art News, the ads were designed as promotions for his own gallery exhibitions.^[51] Koons also issuedSignature Plate, an edition forParkett magazine, with a photographic decal in colors on a porcelain plate with gold-plated rim.^[52] Arts journalist Arifa Akbar reported forThe Independent that in "an era when artists were not regarded as 'stars', Koons went to great lengths to cultivate his public persona by employing an image consultant". Featuring photographs by Matt Chedgey, Koons placed "advertisements in international art magazines of himself surrounded by the trappings of success" and gave interviews "referring to himself in the third person".^[20]

In 1989, theWhitney Museum and its guest curatorMarvin Heiferman asked Koons to make an artwork about the media on a billboard^[7] for the show "Image World: Art and Media Culture". The billboard was meant as an advertisement for an unmade movie, entitledMade in Heaven.^[53] Koons employed his then-wifeIlona Staller (known by her stage name as "Cicciolina") as a model in the shoot that formed the basis of the resulting work for the Whitney,Made in Heaven (1990–1991).^[54] Including works with such titles asDirty Ejaculation andIlonaʼs Asshole, the series of enormous grainy^[55] photographs printed on canvas, glassworks, and sculptures portrayed Koons and Staller in highly explicit sexual positions and created considerable controversy. The paintings of the series reference art from theBaroque andRococo periods—among others,Gian Lorenzo Bernini,Jean-Honoré Fragonard andFrançois Boucher—and also draw upon the breakthroughs of early modern painters asGustave Courbet andÉdouard Manet.^[56]

The series was first shown at the 1990Venice Biennale.^[57] Koons reportedly destroyed much of the work when Staller took their son Ludwig with her to Italy.^[58] In celebration ofMade in Heaven's 20th anniversary, Luxembourg & Dayan chose to present aredux edition of the series.^[56][59][55] The Whitney Museum also exhibited several of the photographs on canvas in their 2014 retrospective.

Koons was not among the 44 American artists selected to exhibit their work inDocumenta 9 in 1992,^[60] but was commissioned by three art dealers to create a piece for nearbyArolsen Castle inBad Arolsen, Germany. The result wasPuppy, a 43 ft (13 m) talltopiary sculpture of aWest Highland White Terrier puppy, executed in a variety of flowers (includingMarigolds,Begonias,Impatiens,Petunias, andLobelias)^[61] on a transparent color-coated chrome stainless steel substructure. The self-cleaning flowers would grow for the specific length of time that the piece was exhibited.^[62] The size and location ofPuppy -the courtyard of a baroque palace- acknowledged the mass audience.^[63] After the outbreak that followed hisMade in Heaven series, Koons decided to make "an image that communicated warmth and love to people."^[64] In 1995, in a co-venture betweenMuseum of Contemporary Art,Kaldor Public Art Projects andSydney Festival,^[65] the sculpture was dismantled and re-erected at theMuseum of Contemporary Art onSydney Harbour on a new, more permanent,stainless steel armature with an internalirrigation system. While the ArolsenPuppy had 20,000 plants, the Sydney version held around 60,000.^[66]

The piece was purchased in 1997 by theSolomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and installed on the terrace outside theGuggenheim Museum Bilbao.^[67] Before the dedication at the museum, anEuskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) trio disguised as gardeners attempted to plant explosive-filled flowerpots near the sculpture,^[68] but was foiled byBasque police officer Jose María Aguirre, who then was shot dead by ETA members.^[69][70] Currently the square in which the statue is placed bears the name of Aguirre. In the summer of 2000, the statue traveled to New York City for a temporary exhibition atRockefeller Center.^[61]

Media mogulPeter Brant and his wife, modelStephanie Seymour, commissioned Koons to create a duplicate of theBilbao statuePuppy (1993) for theirConnecticut estate, the Brant Foundation Art Study Center.^[71] In 1998, a miniature version ofPuppy was released as a white glazed porcelain vase, in an edition of 3000.^[72]

Koons'sCelebration was to honor the ardently hoped-for return of Ludwig from Rome.^{[citation needed]} The series, consisting of a series of large-scale sculptures and paintings of balloon dogs, Valentine hearts, diamonds, andEaster eggs, was conceived in 1994. Some of the pieces are still being fabricated.^{[citation needed]} Each of the 20 different sculptures in the series comes in five differently colored "unique versions",^[74] including the artist's crackedEgg (Blue) which won the 2008 Charles Wollaston Award for the most distinguished work in theRoyal Academy'sSummer Exhibition.^[75] TheDiamond pieces were created between 1994 and 2005, made of shiny stainless steel seven-feet wide.^[76]

Created in an edition of five versions, his later workTulips (1995–2004) consists of a bouquet of multicolor balloon flowers blown up to gargantuan proportions (more than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and 5 m (16 ft) across).^[77] Koons started to work onBalloon Flower in 1995.^[78]

Koons was pushing to finish the series in time for a 1996 exhibition at theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, but the show was ultimately canceled because of production delays and cost overruns.^[79] When "Celebration" funding ran out, the staff was laid off, a crew of two: Gary McCraw, Koons's studio manager, who had been with him since 1990, and Justine Wheeler, an artist from South Africa, who had arrived in 1995 and eventually took charge of the sculpture operation. The artist convinced his primary collectorsDakis Joannou,Peter Brant, andEli Broad, along with dealersJeffrey Deitch,Anthony d'Offay, andMax Hetzler, to invest heavily in the costly fabrication of theCelebration series at Southern California-basedCarlson & Company (including hisBalloon Dog andMoon series),^[79][80] and later, at Arnold, aFrankfurt-based company. The dealers funded the project in part by selling works to collectors before they were fabricated.^[81]

In 2006, Koons presentedHanging Heart, a 9-foot-tall highly polished, steel heart, one of a series of five differently colored examples, part of hisCelebration series.^[82] Large sculptures from that series were exhibited at theMetropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2008. Later additions to the series includeBalloon Swan (2004–2011), an 11.5-foot (3.5-meter), stainless-steel bird,^[83]Balloon Rabbit (2005–2010), andBalloon Monkey, all for which children's party favors are reconceived as mesmerizing monumental forms.^[84]

The series also includes, in addition to sculptures, sixteen^[85] oil paintings.^[86]

Commissioned by theDeutsche Guggenheim in 1999, Koons created the first seven paintings of the new series,Easyfun, comprising paintings and wall-mounted sculptures.^[87] In 2001, Koons undertook a series of paintings,Easyfun-Ethereal, using a collage approach that combined bikinis, food, and landscapes painted under his supervision by assistants.^[88] The series eventually expanded to twenty-four paintings.^[87]

In 2000, Koons designedSplit-Rocker, his second floral sculpture made of stainless steel, soil, geotextile fabric, and an internal irrigation system, which was first shown at thePalais des Papes inAvignon, France. LikePuppy, it is covered with around 27,000 live flowers,^[89] includingpetunias,begonias,impatiens,geraniums andmarigolds.^[90] Weighing 150 tons and soaring over 37 feet high,Split-Rocker is composed of two halves: one based on a toy pony belonging to one of Koons's sons, the other based on a toy dinosaur. Together, they form the head of a giant child's rocker. Koons produced two editions of the sculpture. As of 2014, he owns one of them;^[90] the other is displayed atGlenstone in Maryland.^[89] At Glenstone,Split-Rocker is in bloom from mid-May to mid-October, and requires daily caretaking during that period.^[91] In summer 2014Split-Rocker was installed atRockefeller Plaza in New York City for several months in coincidence with the opening of Koons's retrospective at theWhitney Museum of American Art.

Paintings and sculptures from thePopeye series, which Koons began in 2002, feature the cartoon figures ofPopeye andOlive Oyl.^[92] One such item is a stainless steel reproduction of a mass-marketPVC Popeye figurine.^[93] The artist will also make use of inflatable animals again, this time in combination with ladders, trashcans and fences. To create these sculptures, the toys get a layer of coating after finding the right shape. Then a hard copy is made and sent to the foundry to be cast in aluminium. Back in the studio the sculptures are painted in order to achieve the shiny look of the original inflatables.^[94] For these surrealist installations,Acrobat in particular, Koons got inspiration from the Chicago ImagistH.C. Westermann.^[95] The Popeye sculpture was purchased by billionaireSteve Wynn for $28 million and it is displayed outside the casino entrance at Wynn'sEncore Boston Harbor hotel and casino property.^[96]

Hulk Elvis is a work series by Koons created between 2004 and 2014.^[97] The works range from precision-machinedbronze sculptures—inspired by aninflatable of the popular comic book hero and extruded in three dimensions—to large-scaleoil paintings.^[98] The work series' title combines the popular comic book heroHulk with the pop iconElvis. The triple image of the Hulk figure recallsAndy Warhol'ssilk-screen printingTriple Elvis (1963), regarding both the multiplication and the posture of the Hulk figure.^[99]

According to the artist, theHulk Elvis series with its strong, heroic image of theHulk represents "a very high-testosterone body of work".^[100] Koons also perceives the series as "a bridge between East and West", since a parallel might be drawn between the comic book hero Hulk and Asianguardian Gods.^[101]

The three-dimensional worksHulk (Friends) andHulks (Bell) (both 2004–2012) feature apparently inflatableIncredible Hulks that weigh almost a ton each and are made of bronze and wood.^[102] The sculptureHulk (Organ) (2004–2014) includes a fully functionalmusical instrument whose potential deep sounds match the figure's powerful and masculine appearance.^[103]

The series' paintings arecollages made of severalphotoshop layers. The images range from abstract landscapes to elements of Americaniconography (trains, horses, carriages) and comprise characters such as the Hulk or an inflatable plastic monkey.^[100] Thelandscape paintings often have explicit or implicit sexual content. For example, a recurrent crude line drawing of avulva refers toCourbet'sL'Origine du monde (1866).^[104]

TheHulk Elvis series has been exhibited at a number of international art venues such as theGagosian Gallery in London (2007), theGagosian Gallery in Hong Kong, China (2014) and theÖsterreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna, Austria (2015).^[105]

In 2008, Jeff Koons started working on his Antiquity series, delving into themes of the portrayal oferos, fertility, and feminine beauty across the history of art.^[106][107] At the center of each scene in theAntiquity paintings (2009–2013) is a famous ancient or classical sculpture, meticulously rendered in oil paint and scaled to the same size as the sculptures. The equally detailed backdrops include anArcadian vision.^[84] Koons makes use of contemporary technology, includingCT scans and digital imaging, to produce the metal sculptures. He reinterprets historical figures through the creation of balloon-like sculptures, such as the Metallic Venus, and by integrating representative figures and characters from comic books.^[106][108]

Referring to the ancient Roman marble statueCallipygian Venus,Metallic Venus (2010–2012) was made of high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating and live flowering plants.^[102]

InBallerinas (2010–2014), Koons depicts figurines of dancers, derived from decorative porcelain works designed byUkrainian artistOksana Zhnikrup, at the imposing scale of classical sculpture.^{[109][110][111][112]}

In this series presented at Gagosian Gallery in 2015, Koons has taken 35 masterpieces, includingManet'sDéjeuner sur l'Herbe,Géricault'sRaft of the Medusa andRembrandt'sSelf-Portrait Wearing a Hat, had them repainted in oil on canvas, and added a little shelf, painted as if it had sprouted directly from the image. Each work includes a blue glass gazing ball that sits on a painted aluminum shelf attached to the front of the painting. Both viewer and painting are reflected in the gazing ball.^[113][114]

Gazing Ball takes its name from the mirrored spherical ornaments frequently found on lawns, gardens, and patios around Koons's childhood home in Pennsylvania.^[115] After creating Gazing Ball paintings, Koons also made several white sculptures from the Greco-Roman era along with everyday utilitarian objects encountered in today's suburban and rural landscape, such as mailboxes and a birdbath.

In June 2022, Dakis Jouannou commissioned Koons to create an artwork for his space atDESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, on the Greek island ofHydra. Koons created the series Apollo, including a sculpture titledApollo Wind Spinner (2020–2022), a 9.1 meter (30-foot) wide reflective wind spinner above the Slaughterhouse art space. The walls within the Slaughterhouse have been transformed by using as the base the ancient frescoes fromBoscoreale, nearPompeii. The exhibition includes several other new works including a pair of bronze Nike sneakers,Gazing Ball Tripod (2020–2022), andPlato's Solid Forms Wind Spinners (2020–2022).^[116]

For the 2007–2008 season in theVienna State Opera, Koons designed the large-scale picture (176 sqm)Geisha as part of the exhibition series "Safety Curtain", conceived bymuseum in progress.^[117] Koons worked with American pop performerLady Gaga on her 2013 studio albumArtpop, including the creation of its cover artwork featuring a sculpture he made of Lady Gaga.^[118]In September 2014, the bi-annual arts and culture publicationGARAGE Magazine published Koons's first ever digital artwork for the front of its print edition. The piece, titledLady Bug, is anaugmented reality sculpture that can only be viewed on mobile devices through a GARAGE Magazine app, which allows viewers to explore the piece from a variety of angles as if standing on top of it.^[119]

In 2012, Koons bought Advanced Stone Technologies, an offshoot of the non-profitJohnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture's stone division. He moved the high-tech stone workshop from New Jersey to a larger, 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m²) space nearMorrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The facility exists solely to fabricate Koons's works made of stone.^[120]

In 2013 Koons created the sculptureGazing Ball (Farnese Hercules), which was inspired by theFarnese Hercules.^[121] The sculpture is made from white plaster and can be interpreted as perpetuating colorism in how we view the ancient world.^[121]

In 1999, Koons commissioned a song about himself onMomus's albumStars Forever.^[122]

A drawing similar to hisTulip Balloons was placed on the front page of the Internet search engineGoogle. The drawing greeted all who visited Google's main page on April 30, 2008, and May 1, 2008.^[123][124]

In 2006 Koons appeared onArtstar, an unscripted television series set in the New York art world. He had a minor role in the 2008 filmMilk playing state assemblymanArt Agnos.^[125]

In September 2012, New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo gave Koons the task of helping to review the designs for a newTappan Zee Bridge.^[126]

In 2019, Koons unveiledBouquet of Tulips, an 11-meter high commemorative sculpture in Paris modelled on theStatue of Liberty, honoring the victims of theNovember 2015 attacks.^[127][128]

In February 2024, aSpaceX rocket carrying 125 of Koon's stainless steel miniature moon sculptures departed from theKennedy Space Center in Florida. The sculptures, named after historical figures such asLeonardo da Vinci andBillie Holiday, were part of a larger project involvinga lunar lander designed byIntuitive Machines. The lander, which also carried NASA equipment, reached the Moon on February 22.^[129] Koons, inspired byPresident Kennedy's vision ofspace exploration, saw this project as a way to inspire society. This endeavor, which included plans for larger sculptures on Earth and correspondingNFTs, aimed to be the first authorized artwork on the moon, protected under theArtemis Accords.^[130]

Koons acted as curator of anEd Paschke exhibition atGagosian Gallery, New York, in 2009.^[131] He also curated an exhibition in 2010 of works from the private collection of Greek billionaireDakis Joannou at theNew Museum in New York City. The exhibition,Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection, generated debate concerningcronyism within the art world as Koons is heavily collected by Joannou and had previously designed the exterior of Joannou's yachtGuilty.^[132][133]

Koons was the artist named to design the seventeenth in the series ofBMW "Art Cars". His artwork was applied to a race-specE92 BMW M3, and revealed to the public atThe Pompidou Centre in Paris on June 2, 2010.^[134] Backed byBMW Motorsport, the car then competed at the2010 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.^[135]

In 1989, Koons and fellow artistMartin Kippenberger worked together on an issue of the art journalParkett; the following year, Koons designed an exhibition poster for Kippenberger.^[136]

In 2013, Koons collaborated with American singer-songwriter and performance artistLady Gaga for her third studio album,ARTPOP.^[137] The album cover depicts a nude sculpture of Gaga made by Koons behind a blue ball sculpture, and pieces of other art works in the background such asBirth of Venus painted bySandro Botticelli, which inspired Gaga's image through the new era, including in her music video for "Applause" and the performance of the song at the2013 MTV Video Music Awards.^[138] The image of the cover was revealed piece-by-piece in a social marketing campaign where her fans had to tweet the Twitter hashtag "#iHeartARTPOP" to unlock it.^[139] The song "Applause" itself includes the lyrics "One second I'm a Koons, then suddenly the Koons is me."

In April 2017, Koons collaborated with the French luxury fashion houseLouis Vuitton for the "Masters Collection" and designed a series of handbags and backpacks featuring the reproductions of his favorite masterpieces by the Old Masters, such asLeonardo da Vinci,Titian,Vincent van Gogh,Peter Paul Rubens andJean-Honoré Fragonard. Later that year he presented another handful of bags and accessories featuring the reproductions of works byClaude Monet,J. M. W. Turner,Édouard Manet,Paul Gauguin andFrançois Boucher.^[140] The prices range from $585 for a key chain to $4,000 for the large carryall.^[141] he also collaborated with singerCupcakke multiple times in 2019.

Koons has also produced some fine wine-related commissions. In December 2012,Chateau Mouton Rothschild announced that Koons was the artist for their 2010 vintage label – a tradition that was started in 1946. Other artists to design labels includePablo Picasso,Francis Bacon,Salvador Dalí andJoan Miró, amongst others.^[142] In August 2013,Dom Pérignon released their 2004 vintage, with a special edition done by Koons, as well as a made-to-order case called the 'Balloon Venus'. This has a recommended retail price of €15,000.^{[citation needed]}

From February 15 to March 6, 2008, Koons donated a private tour of his studio to theHereditary Disease Foundation for auction onCharitybuzz.^{[citation needed]} From his limited-edition 2010Tulip designs forKiehl's Crème de Corps, a portion of the proceeds went to the Koons Family Institute, an initiative of theInternational Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.^[21] Since his relationship with the International Centre began, Koons has given over US$4.3 million to the Institute that bears his family's name.^[143]

Since a 1980 window installation at theNew Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, Koons's work has been widely exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions. In 1986, he appeared in a group show withPeter Halley,Ashley Bickerton,Ross Minoru Lang and Meyer Vaisman atSonnabend Gallery in New York. In 1997, the parisian Galerie Jerome de Noirmont organized his first solo show in Europe. HisMade in Heaven series was first shown at theVenice Biennale in 1990.^[57]

As a young artist, Koons was included in many exhibitions curated byRichard Milazzo includingThe New Capital at White Columns in 1984,Paravision at Postmasters Gallery in 1985,Cult and Decorum at Tibor De Nagy Gallery in 1986,Time After Time at Diane Brown Gallery in 1986,Spiritual America at CEPA in 1986, andArt at the End of the Social at The Rooseum, Malmö, Sweden in 1988. These exhibitions would be alongside other notable artists such asRoss Bleckner,Joel Otterson, andKevin Larmon.^[144]

His museum solo shows include theMuseum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (1988),Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (1993),Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin (2000),Kunsthaus Bregenz (2001), theMuseo archeologico nazionale di Napoli (2003), and a retrospective survey at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2004), which traveled to theHelsinki City Art Museum (2005). In 2008, the Celebration series was shown at theNeue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and on the roof of theMetropolitan Museum of Art.^[145]

Considered as his first retrospective in France, the 2008 exhibition of 17 Koons sculptures at theChâteau de Versailles also marked the first ambitious display of a contemporary American artist organized by the château.The New York Times reported that "several dozen people demonstrated outside the palace gates" in a protest arranged by a little-known, right-wing group dedicated to French artistic purity. It was also criticized that ninety percent of the US$2.8 million in financing for the exhibition came from private patrons, mainlyFrançois Pinault.^[146]

The May 31 – September 21, 2008, Koons retrospective at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Chicago,^{[8][147][148]} which was widely publicized in the press, broke the museum's attendance record with 86,584 visitors.^[149][150] The exhibition included numerous works from the MCA collection, along with recent paintings and sculptures by the artist. The retrospective exhibition reflects the MCA's commitment to Koons's work as it presented the artist's first American survey in 1988.^[151] For the final exhibition in itsMarcel Breuer building, theWhitney Museum is planning to present a Koons retrospective in collaboration with theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and theCentre Pompidou, Paris.^[152]

In July 2009, Koons had his first major solo show in London, at theSerpentine Gallery. EntitledJeff Koons: Popeye Series, the exhibit included cast aluminum models of children's pool toys and "dense, realist paintings ofPopeye holding his can ofspinach or smoking his pipe, a red lobster looming over his head".^[153]

In May 2012, Koons had his first major solo show in Switzerland, at theBeyeler Museum inBasel, entitledJeff Koons. Shown are works from three series:The New,Banality andCelebration as well as the flowered sculptureSplit-Rocker.^[154]

Also in 2012,Jeff Koons. The Painter atSchirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt focussed primarily on the artist's development as a painter, while in the showJeff Koons. The Sculptor at theLiebieghaus in Frankfurt, the sculptures by Jeff Koons entered enter into dialogues with the historical building and a sculpture collection spanning five millennia.^[155] Together, both shows form the largest showing of Koons's work to date.^[156][157]

The artist enjoyed a 2014 retrospective at theWhitney Museum of American Art in New York. Scott Indrisek, writing for ARTINFO.com, described it as "brash, fairly entertaining, and as digestible as a pack ofM&Ms".^[158]

In 2019 an exhibition calledJeff Koons at the Ashmolean was held at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, United Kingdom.^[159]

Koons received the BZ Cultural Award from a localBerlin newspaper in 2000 and the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture in 2001. He was named a Chevalier of theFrench Legion of Honor in 2002 and then promoted to Officier in 2007.^[160] He received an honoroary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008.^[161] He was given the 2008 Wollaston Award from theRoyal Academy of Arts in London.^[57] In 2013 he received theU.S. State Department's Medal of Arts.^[162] In 2014, Koons received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council memberWayne Thiebaud during the International Achievement Summit in San Francisco.^{[163][164][165]} In 2017 he accepted the annual Honorary Membership Award for Outstanding Contribution to Visual Culture from theEdgar Wind Society,University of Oxford.^[166] Made Honorary Professor of Sculpture of the Fine Arts Academy of Carrara, at the 250th anniversary celebration ceremony at the Academy of Fine Arts, Carrara, Italy [April 16, 2019]^[167]

Koons is widely collected in America and Europe, where some collectors acquire his work in depth.Eli Broad has 24 pieces, andDakis Joannou owns some 38 works from all stages of the artist's career.^[74]

Koons has been represented by dealers such asMary Boone (1979–1980),Sonnabend Gallery (1986–2021),^[168]Galerie Max Hetzler, Jérôme de Noirmont andGagosian Gallery. The exclusive right to the primary sale of the "Celebration" series was long held by Gagosian Gallery, his dominant dealer for many years. Since 2021,Pace Gallery has been representing Koons exclusively worldwide.^[169]

Many of Koons's works have been sold privately at auctions. His auction records have primarily been achieved from his sculptures (especially those from his Celebration series), whereas his paintings are less popular.^[170] In 2001, one of his threeMichael Jackson and Bubbles porcelain sculptures sold for US$5.6 million. On November 14, 2007,Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold) from the collection of Adam Lindemann, one of five in different colors, sold atSotheby's New York for US$23.6 million becoming, at the time, the most expensive piece by a living artist ever auctioned.^[82] It was bought by theGagosian Gallery in New York, which the previous day had purchased another Koons sculpture,Diamond (Blue), for US$11.8 million fromChristie's London.^[171] Gagosian appears to have bought both Celebration series works on behalf of Ukrainian steel oligarchVictor Pinchuk.^[172] In July 2008, his 11-foot (3.3 meter)Balloon Flower (Magenta) (1995–2000) from the collection of Howard and Cindy Rachofsky also sold at Christie's London for an auction record of US$25.7 million. In total, Koons was the top-selling artist at auction with €81.3 million of sales in the year to June 2008.^[173]

During thelate 2000s recession, however, art prices plummeted and auction sales of high-value works by Koons dropped 50 percent in 2009.^[173] A violetHanging Heart sold for US$11 million in a private sale.^[174] However prices for the artist's earlier Luxury and Degradation series appear to be holding up.The Economist reported thatThomas H. Lee, a private-equity investor, soldJim Beam J.B. Turner Train (1986) in a package deal brokered by Giraud Pissarro Segalot for more than US$15 million.^[175] In 2012,Tulips (1995–2004) brought a record auction price for Koons atChristie's, selling to a telephone bidder for US$33.6 million, well above its high US$25 million estimate.^[176] AtChristie's in 2015, the oil on canvasTriple Elvis (2009) set a world auction record for a painting by the artist, selling for $8,565,000, over $5 million more than the previous high.^[177] Koons's stainless steelRabbit (1986) sold for $91.1 million at auction in 2019, making itthe most expensive work sold by a living artist at auction.^[169]

In 2018, billionaire art collectorSteven Tananbaum brought a lawsuit against Koons andGagosian Gallery for failing to deliver three sculptures,Balloon Venus,Eros andDiana, for which he paid $13 million.^[178] Soon after, Hollywood producerJoel Silver filed a similar lawsuit against Gagosion and Koons for failure to deliver an $8 million sculpture in 2014. Both lawsuits were settled in 2019 and 2020.^[179]

Among curators andart collectors and others in the art world, Koons's work is labeled asNeo-pop or Post-Pop as part of a 1980s movement in reaction to the pared-down art ofMinimalism andConceptual_art in the previous decade. Koons resists such comments: "A viewer might at first seeirony in my work ... but I see none at all. Irony causes too much critical contemplation".^[180] Koons rejects any hidden meaning in his artwork.^[181]

He has caused controversy by the elevation of unashamedkitsch into the high-art arena, exploiting more throwaway subjects than, for example, Warhol'sCampbell's Soup Cans. His workBalloon Dog (1994–2000) is based on balloons twisted into shape to make a toy dog.

TheoristSamito Jalbuena wrote, "From the beginning of his controversial career, Koons overturned the traditional notion of art inside and out. Focusing on banal objects as models, he questioned standards of normative values in art, and, instead, embraced the vulnerabilities of aesthetic hierarchies and taste systems."^[182]

Koons has received polarized reactions to his work. Critic Amy Dempsey described hisBalloon Dog as "an awesome presence ... a massive durable monument".^[183]Jerry Saltz atartnet.com has commented on being "wowed by the technical virtuosity and eye-popping visual blast" of Koons's art.^[184] Koons was among the names inBlake Gopnik's 2011 list "The 10 Most Important Artists of Today", with Gopnik arguing, "Even after 30 years, Koons's mashups of high and low—a dog knotted from balloons, then enlarged into a public monument; a life-size bust of Michael Jackson and his chimp in gold-and-white porcelain—still feel significant."^[185]

Mark Stevens ofThe New Republic dismissed him as a "decadent artist [who] lacks the imaginative will to do more than trivialize and italicize his themes and the tradition in which he works... He is another of those who serve the tacky rich".^[186] Michael Kimmelman ofThe New York Times saw "one last, pathetic gasp of the sort of self-promoting hype and sensationalism that characterized the worst of the 1980s" and called Koons's work "artificial", "cheap", and "unabashedly cynical".^[187]

In an article comparing the contemporary art scene with show business, criticRobert Hughes wrote that Koons is

an extreme and self-satisfied manifestation of the sanctimony that attaches to big bucks. Koons really does think he'sMichelangelo and is not shy to say so. The significant thing is that there are collectors, especially in America, who believe it. He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can't imagine America's singularly depraved culture without him.^[188]

Hughes placed Koons's work just above that ofSeward Johnson and was quoted in aNew York Times article as having stated that comparing their careers was "like debating the merits of dog excrement versus cat excrement".^[189]

He has influenced younger artists such asDamien Hirst^[20] (for example, in Hirst'sHymn, an 18 ft (5.5 m) version of a 14 in (0.36 m) anatomical toy),Jack Daws,^[190]Matthieu Laurette^[191] andMona Hatoum.^{[citation needed]} In turn, his extreme enlargement of mundane objects owes a debt toClaes Oldenburg andCoosje van Bruggen. Much of his work also was influenced by artists working in Chicago during his study at the Art Institute, includingJim Nutt,Ed Paschke andH. C. Westermann.^[192]

In 2005, he was elected as a Fellow to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[193]

Koons has been sued several times forcopyright infringement over his use of pre-existing images, the original works of others, in his work. InRogers v. Koons, 960 F.2d 301 (2d Cir. 1992), theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a judgment against him for his use of a photograph of puppies as the basis for a sculpture,String of Puppies.^[194]

Koons also lost lawsuits inUnited Features Syndicate, Inc. v. Koons, 817 F. Supp. 370 (S.D.N.Y. 1993), andCampbell v. Koons, No. 91 Civ. 6055, 1993 WL 97381 (S.D.N.Y. April 1, 1993).^{[citation needed]}

He won one lawsuit,Blanch v. Koons, No. 03 Civ. 8026 (LLS), S.D.N.Y., November 1, 2005 (slip op.),^[195] affirmed by theSecond Circuit in October 2006, brought over his use of a photographic advertisement as source material for legs and feet in a painting,Niagara (2000). The court ruled that Koons had sufficientlytransformed the original advertisement so as to qualify as afair use of the original image.^[196]

In 2015, Koons faced allegations he used photographer Mitchel Gray's 1986 photo forGordon's Gin in one of his Luxury and Degradation paintings without permission or compensation.^[197]

In 2018, a French court ruled that his 1988 workFait d'Hiver, which depicts a pig standing over a woman who is lying on her back, had copied an advertisement for a clothing chain and found Koons and theCentre Pompidou guilty of infringing photographer Franck Davidovici's copyright.^[198] This decision was upheld in 2021 on appeal. The result is that the work, owned by Foundazione Prada, cannot be displayed in France and the museum and artist cannot display photographic reproductions online (without a penalty of €600 per day). In addition, the museum and artist were ordered to jointly pay €190,000 and the book company €14,000.^[199]

In 2019, a French court ruled that his work 1988Naked, which depicts a little boy offering flowers to a little girl, both of whom are naked, had infringed on the copyright of a 1975 postcard photograph by French artist Jean-Francois Bauret.^[198]

Koons has also accused others of copyright infringement, claiming that a bookstore in San Francisco infringed his copyright inBalloon Dogs by selling bookends in the shape of balloon dogs.^[200] Koons dropped the lawsuit after the bookstore's lawyer filed a motion for declaratory relief stating, "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".^[201]

A Koons sculpture of a ballerina resembles the pieceBallerina Lenochka created by the Ukrainian artistOksana Zhnykrup in 1974.^[202]

In a 2021 complaint filed at theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York, artist Michael Hayden who made a sculpture in 1988 of a serpent wrapped around a rock for Ilona Staller claimed that Koons unlawfully used the sculpture in his works.^[203]

Koons is a member of the board of directors of theInternational Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), a global nonprofit organization that combatschild sexual exploitation,child pornography, andchild abduction.^[204] In 2007, Koons, along with his wife Justine, founded the ICMEC Koons Family Institute on International Law and Policy.^[205]

Following the end of his first marriage in 1994 to Hungarian-born Italian actressIlona Staller, Staller left for Italy with their two-year-old son in violation of a US court order.^[206][207] Koons spent five years pursuing hisparental rights. TheItalian Supreme Court ruled in favor of Staller. Koons subsequently established the Koons Family Institute.^[208] In 2008, Staller filed suit against Koons for failure to pay child support.^[209]

While a student at theMaryland Institute College of Art, Koons fathered a daughter, Shannon Rodgers. The couple put the child up for adoption. Rodgers reconnected with Koons in 1995.^[210] Koons has said that the adoption "helped make me want to have more visibility so that my daughter could find me. I always hoped that we could reconnect."^[210]

In 1991, he married Hungarian-Italian pornography starIlona Staller (Cicciolina) who at the time was a member of theItalian Parliament (1987–1992). Koons collaborated with Staller for the "Made in Heaven" paintings and sculptures in various media, with the hopes of making a film. While maintaining a home in Manhattan, Koons and Staller lived inMunich.^[211] In 1992, they had a son.

Koons later married Justine Wheeler, an artist and former employee who began working in Koons's studio in 1995. As of June 2009^[update], the couple have four children together.^[212] In January 2009, the family were living in anUpper East Side townhouse.^[213]

Koons donated $50,000 toCorrect the Record, aSuper PAC which supportedHillary Clinton's2016 presidential campaign in June 2016.^[214]

• Jeff Koons: the Banality Work by Jeff Koons, Paul Tschinkel, Sarah Berry. Videorecording produced by Inner Tube Video and Sonnabend Gallery (New York, NY), 1990.
• HisBalloon Dog (Red) sculpture was one of the artworks brought to life in the 2009 filmNight at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
• The Price of Everything, directed by Nathaniel Kahn and produced by Jennifer Blei Stockman, Debi Wisch and Carla Solomon, and distributed by HBO Documentary Films, 2018.

• Bouvier, Raphael. Jeff Koons. Der Künstler als Täufer. München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2012. (ISBN 978-3-7705-5218-4)
• Girod, Andre.American Gothic : Une mosaïque de personnalités américaines.ISBN 9782343040370.OCLC 894409758. Article on Jeff Koons.
• Kimmelman, Michael. "Jeff Koons",The New York Times, November 29, 1991.
• Koons, Jeff.The Jeff Koons Handbook. New York: Rizzoli, 1993.ISBN 0-8478-1696-6
• Sciolino, Elaine."At the Court of the Sun King, Some All-American Art",The New York Times, September 8, 2008.
• Stevens, Mark. "Adventures in the Skin Trade",The New Republic, January 20, 1992.
• Tomkins, Calvin."The Turnaround Artist: Jeff Koons Up from Banality"Archived July 20, 2014, at theWayback Machine,The New Yorker, April 23, 2007.
• Tully, Judd. "Jeff Koons' Raw Talent",The Washington Post, December 15, 1991.

• Grosenick, Uta; Riemschneider, Burkhard, eds. (2005).Art Now (25th anniversary ed.). Köln: Taschen. pp. 156–159.ISBN 9783822840931.OCLC 191239335.

•   Media related toJeff Koons at Wikimedia Commons
•   Quotations related toJeff Koons at Wikiquote
• Official website
• Jeff Koons at theMuseum of Modern Art
• Jeff Koons atIMDb
• In the Studio: Jeff Koons at Tate Channel; some of Koons's work in progress at his studio. January 29, 2009
• Jeff Koons' 7 most famous works by Lile KOBALIANI at Art de Vivre