picasso
man ray

leonora carrington
nusch eluard
frida kahlo
leonor fini
jacqueline lamba breton
rita kernn larsen
lee miller
meret oppenheim
remedios varo

He worked as a Wall Street commodities broker before becoming famous as an artist in the 1980s.

As the self-proclaimed "most written-about artist in the world," Jeff Koons has attained a "star" pop status rivaling his precursor Andy Warhol. However, the Koons phenomenon -- Koons himself, his objects, and the discursive reception that surrounds it all -- is inherently paradoxical.

Koons is made out to be a critical commentator in the tradition of the Dadaists and a controversial figure in the footsteps of the avant-garde, yet his art-historical glory resides in the perception that he is "flat" -- no depth, all surface. This meaninglessness and banality, above all, is his contribution to art.

His work is considered by many to exude a great amount of joy, even as it both appropriates and problematizes pleasurable consumerism. Koons art has been widely plagiarized in the People's Republic of China where consumers continue buying his work despite the threat of lengthy jail terms for possession of these controversial reproductions.

Critics have often been scathing in discussing his work. His Made In Heaven exhibition featured photographs and sculptures of Koons having intercourse with his wife, the Italian porn star and politician Cicciolina. Mark Stevens of The New Republic wrote that he was a:

"decadent artist [because he] lacks the imaginative will to do more than trivialize and italicise his themes and the tradition in which he works... He is another of those who serve the tacky rich."

Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times wrote it was "one last, pathetic gasp of the sort of self-promoting hype and sensationalism that characterized the worst of the" 1980s. "Artificial," "cheap," and "unabashedly cynical," were Kimmelman's labels.

In 1992, Koons was commissioned to create a piece for an art exhibition in Bad Arolsen, Germany. The result was Puppy, a 13-meter (43 foot) tall topiary sculpture of a Scottish Terrier puppy executed in a variety of flowers on a steel substructure.

In 1995 the sculpture was dismantled and re-erected in Sydney Harbour on a new, more permanent, stainless steel armature with an internal irrigation system.

In 1997 the piece was purchased by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and installed on the terrace outside the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Before the dedication of the museum in a trio disguised as gardeners attempted to plant explosive-filled flowerpots near the sculpture. Bilbao police foiled the scheme. Since its installation, Puppy has become a familiar icon for the city of Bilbao.

In the summer of 2000 it travelled to New York City for a temporary exhibition at Rockefeller Center.

Koons commissioned a song, about himself, on Momus' 1999 album Stars Forever.

Gallery:

Jeff Koons exhibition posters @ ebay.com (direct link) - just checked & a bigger selection than i've seen anywhere else


biography | gallery | picasso
leonora carrington | nusch eluard
frida kahlo | leonor fini
rita kernn larsen | lee miller
meret oppenheim | remedios varo