Monday, August 6, 2012

Jeff Koons

I first heard about Jeff Koons about twenty years ago. I watched a segment on the 60 Minuites TV journal show about him. All I can say is, 'What an operator.'


Jeff Koons

Koons has become a huge name in the art world.  Before he was an 'artist', he was a commodities broker.  What qualifies him to carry the label artist?  In fairness to him, he apparently did attend art school.   Having said that, he seems a lot more like P.T. Barnum than Salvadore Dali.



The wikipedia entry on Koons calls him "an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects."  That seems an apt description.



Koons doesn't even do any of his "art" himself.  He employs artists to come up with ideas.  He employs artisans to do the fabrication for him , then he applies his name to the finished work.  In some cases, his art amounts to things he buys retail like the piece below.



Basketballs Floating in Water

I haven't fully formed an opinion on Jeff Koons.  You can't help but admire what he manages to create, at least a little...but it sure seems like he's gaming the system and laughing all the way to the bank.

Here is a link to the original 60 Minutes segment on Koons that I saw in 1993.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403564n



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