Consumerism, desire and questions of good and bad taste are explored in the work of American artist Jeff Koons.
This display of work by Jeff Koons forms part of a collection of international contemporary art jointly owned by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. It is known as ARTIST ROOMS and focuses on individual rooms devoted to particular artists.
Koons appropriates existing objects and images to use in his art, looking particularly at popular culture, advertising, consumerism and children’s toys. In early works, he encased household appliances in brightly lit Plexiglas cases, as if isolating them from any hint of everyday function and preserving them as works of art. The fetish-like adoration of consumer goods, and the emotions and desires that are invested in them, are important themes in his work. As his career develops, he has been able to hire specialist craftsmen to fabricate his sculptures to the highest standards, so that they are even more bright and enticing than the objects that originally inspired them.
Many of Koons’ works challenge ideas of good taste. He often draws upon objects and images that appeal on the most basic level – through gaudy colours, simple animal forms or the perky smile on the face of a teddy bear. The results have been accused of kitsch, and raise questions of whether he is mocking or celebrating the culture of consumerism. The artist himself has talked about the need for the viewer to overcome the sense of shame induced by the art world at taking pleasure from apparently banal imagery.
Jeff Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1955. He lives and works in New York.
ARTIST ROOMS was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments, and is being shared with museums and galleries throughout the UK with additional generous support from The Art Fund and the Scottish Government.
Curated by Ann Coxon
Text by Simon Bolitho
