Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons

            Jeff Koons, an American artist, is most widely recognized for his reproductions of objects, frequently made to look like balloon art.  He has several series, including The Pre-New, The New, Equilibrium, Statuary, and Celebration.  In the Pre-New series, Koons takes ordinary household objects and attaches them to light fixtures to create new objects.  Equilibrium is an interesting series containing basketballs floating in water.  Some of the tanks, called 50/50 Tanks, are filled halfway with water, and then the basketballs float on the surface.  Other tanks, titled Total Equilibrium Tanks, are completely filled with water, and then salt is added inside the basketballs to suspend them in the middle of the tank.  Another recognizable work by Jeff Koons is his 43 foot tall Puppy constructed out of flowers.  His work Tulips was one of the most expensive artworks ever to be sold by a living artist.  Tulips is a bouquet of large balloon-style tulips, made of stainless steel and covered with a reflective finish.

            I liked looking at Jeff Koons’ balloon-style artworks because of the juxtaposition of ideas.  Balloon art is expectedly lightweight and soft, while his sculptures are made of metal, and therefore heavy and solid.  They are also very large, which makes them interesting because I like the idea of normal, everyday objects being portrayed in new ways, such as exaggerating the size.  My favorite series of Koons’ is his Equilibrium series.  I enjoyed learning about the science that happened behind the scenes, and even though the basketballs floating inside the water look like an optical illusion, it is real.  Scientist Richard Feynmann helped Jeff Koons make the project possible.