Hailed by Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker as "the most original,
controversial, and expensive American artist of the past three and
a half decades," Jeff Koons has come to reign as a master of the
market, a wry puppeteer with a "formidable aesthetic intelligence."
His elaborate, exquisitely produced sculptures draw from a
contemporary lexicon of consumerism - often featuring large-scale
reproductions of toys, household items, or luxury goods - while
simultaneously holding up a mirror to the very culture from which
they are extracted. These references to popular media are evidenced
not merely in his choice of subject matter but also in his visual
techniques: his sculptures frequently comprise smooth, mirrored
surfaces, and his paintings employ bright and saturated colors.
Jeff Koons: Gazing Ball - the first catalogue on the artist's work
to be published by David Zwirner - was produced on the occasion of
the major 2013 exhibition at the gallery in New York, which marked
the world debut of his Gazing Ball series, a brand new body of work
that occupies an important place in the trajectory of his practice.
Conceptually derived from the mirrored ornaments encountered on
many suburban lawns, including those of Koons's childhood hometown
in rural Pennsylvania, every sculpture is anchored by a blue
"gazing ball" of hand-blown glass. These are situated atop large,
white-plaster sculptures that have been alternately modeled after
iconic works from the Greco-Roman era, including the Farnese
Hercules and the Esquiline Venus, or after such quotidian objects
from the contemporary residential landscape as a rustic mailbox, a
birdbath, and an inflatable garden snowman. Created in close
collaboration with Koons, this elegant publication echoes the
classic design of a 1970 Picasso catalogue that the artist admires.
Inside, vivid color plates of the sculptures in situ capture the
stark contrast between the pristine whiteness of the plaster and
the highly reflective spheres. In their perfect contours and
smooth, glistening surfaces, the gazing balls implicate audience as
well as context - mirroring both and offering playful yet powerful
meditations on the dialogue between gaze and reflection. "While all
of the sculptures are grounded in their own distinct narratives,
derived from Art History and suburban towns," writes Francesco
Bonami in his catalogue essay, "the seemingly fragile and delicate
gazing ball establishes that sense of uncertain equilibrium that
exists between history and fantasy, magic and materiality, mass
culture and exclusive beauty."
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