It doesn't matter if you're a die-hard Jeff Koons fan or if you've never heard of him before everyone started talking about the Koons exhibition at the Whitney Museum when it opened up recently (I am not ashamed to admit that I am part of the latter group). It doesn't matter if you're a 5 year old boy with nothing to do over the vacation or if you're a retired woman seeking an eye-opening experience, and if you're anywhere in between? Even better. It doesn't matter if you're an art major who has lived and breathed art since you were 10 or if you know zilch, squat, nada about art...
This is the exhibition for you!
Jeff Koons: A Retrospective is showing at the Whitney Museum of American Art (please visit their official website http://whitney.org/ for transit information and hours) from June 27 to October 19, 2014. The exhibition is composed of many of his series including, but not limited to, Inflatables and Pre-New, Equilibrium, Banality, Made In Heaven, Celebration, and Hulk Elvis, summing up to almost 150 objects.
According to the official website of the Whitney Museum, "Jeff Koons is widely regarded as one of the most important, influential, popular, and controversial artists of the postwar era". It is easy to see why. Koons was influenced by artists such as Salvador Dali and Marcel Duchamp, but more than anything, he is influenced by the world around him. He understands what modern society is about. He understands how to get a reaction from people. We want consumer products; we want sex; we like to look back at the happy things from our childhood. So that's how he gets our attention-- he gives us consumer products; he gives us sex; he makes us nostalgic.
Lastly, I didn't just want to comment on some of the pieces I liked. I want to tell the story of this exhibition through the people I saw at the Whitney during my visit. An exhibition is just a bunch of things put in the same place if people don't go see it. I think the reason this is such a successful exhibition is that it brought so many different people together, and more importantly, people reacted to it, whether positively or negatively. No one left that building without some new ideas to contemplate.
Inflatable toys from Inflatables and Pre-New! There really is a sense of livelihood here that makes us think, what made Koons, a grown man, gravitate towards these items when working? I think the juxtaposition between the voluminous, 3-dimensional inflatable rabbit and flower and the flat, 2-dimensional reflections of them that makes it a very dynamic piece.
The ultimate representation of satisfaction: a beautiful woman, the beautiful ocean, and of course, how could we forget about alcohol?
A very decorative piece. When people see things in a shiny material, we want it!
When I was taking a picture of this statue, from Koons' Banality series, my teacher, Amanda Hallay, was right next to me, and noted that she was drawn to this piece too. This statue tugs at our heartstrings because adolescent love is a very dear and interesting thing. We're looking at this thinking "how cute!", but the kids (if they were real) would think that they're going through something life-changing.
This statue could also be seen as depicting romance in its most innocent state. Most of us probably can't even remember a time when we didn't care about sex or when love was not even a little dark and twisted and angry. I think Koons is trying to jog our memories. Observing Koons' creation, I'm reminded of a great film called Moonrise Kingdom that recounts a whimsical pubescent love story. I highly recommend it!
Note: I do not own the above image.
The Koons series, Made in Heaven, makes a bold statement about human desire with very explicit details. The subjects in these works are Koons himself and his former wife and porn star, Ilona Staller. The top photo shows a much more commercial portrayal of sex. Between the vibrant color palette and the butterflies and Koons in a laid-back position while Staller pursues him-- everything looks as if for sale.
On the other hand, the bottom piece is raw affection. The depicting of the male and female genitalia and (although indiscernible from this distance) and the unretouched pimples on Staller's rear set this painting aside from advertisements. (I mean no disrespect to Koons' vision by choosing not to reveal the second work in its full nature. Please do google this series to see it how Koons meant for us to see it. I just don't want to spring it upon my readers.)
I overheard some elderly women talking about how they didn't like Koons' work at all near these pieces. I guess his audacity is not everybody's cup of tea, but hate is not the opposite of love. Apathy is. At least it left an impression-- which I'm sure was Koons' ultimate motive.
Note: the four pieces below are all from Celebration.
The sheer size of some of these statues was amazing! How is it standing freely?
Some couples were taking a picture in front of this. It is definitely a celebration of love!
A giant play-doh statue! Who doesn't have good memories involving this fun, colorful, morphable toy? Even though these colors are celebratory, its crackling exterior is also quite imperfect in comparison to the stainless steel statues surrounding it. There's also a sense of frustration in this statue, because we've all had the experience of mushing together a bunch of different colored play-doh, and never being able to completely separate the big rainbow blob into its individual colors again.
When I was photographing this statue, I heard a woman say to her kids, "No, you may not climb it, but that would be pretty cool!"
This seems to be the kids' favorite series. I had to take a picture from the balloon dog's rear end because there were two boys that looked about 6 years old, holding pencils and little pamphlets provided by the Whitney. On one page, there was a space for the kids to draw the dog. These boys were standing several feet from this piece for ten minutes, their parents nowhere to be found. When I was 7 and my parents took me to the Louvre, I really couldn't care less about all the famous paintings and sculptures and artifacts. But these kids? They were so engrossed in sketching this balloon dog! Again, this exhibition really has something for everybody.
The nostalgia strikes again. I'm sure I lingered here longer than I meant to, trying to pick apart each individual element, whilst feeling uplifted by their combined presence.
Please do find your way to the Whitney Museum in the near future! Honestly, Times Square is not worth tolerating all the tourists for, but Jeff Koons: A Retrospective is.
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