Jeff Koons

New Hoover Convertibles, Green, Red, Brown, New Shelton Wet/Dry 10 Gallon Displaced Doubledecker

1981–7

Not on display

Artist: Jeff Koons born 1955
Medium: 4 vacuum cleaners, Perspex and fluorescent lights
Dimensions: Displayed: 2510 × 1370 × 715 mm
Collection: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition: ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference: AR00077

Online caption

In 1980 Koons exhibited a series of sculptures comprising of wall-mounted vacuum cleaners displayed in Plexiglas cases. Over the next seven years the artist produced several more configurations, using readymade objects in the creation of highly conceptual artworks. Referred to broadly as ‘The New’ these works explored the way our fantasies and desires are transferred on to ordinary objects. Gleaming seductively under the glare of fluorescent lighting, it is the newness of the 'New Hoover Convertibles' that gives them their appeal. Suspended in a state of ultimate perfection, Koons commented "if one of my works was to be turned on, it would be destroyed."