Michael Jackson and Bubbles

This banal sculpture made of porcelain has gold and white colors and portrays Michael Jackson sitting on the ground with a pet monkey. Jackson’s arm is around the monkey who is sitting on his lap and they both seem to be looking in the same direction as if they were waiting for someone to take their picture. The dimensions of this sculpture were life-like and could be viewed from all angles. The sculpture does not arouse much thought or send any message on the surface but must be tied into the realms of that day in age news and media in order to draw any type of conclusions. On the surface I’m sure that many viewers would be able to identify the human as Michael Jackson and the animal as a monkey.

Koons seems to be addressing the notion and portraying Jackson in a metrosexual way while cleverly substituting a monkey in place of a small child amidst the accusations to which Jackson dealt. Although, Koons actually meant for the sculpture to “pay homage to the greatness, he had watched Jackson moonwalk, and ‘everybody’s jaw just dropped, seeing that (Bloomberg.com).’” Koons says that he intended to display the sculpture in a renaissance style so as to portray Jackson as is; highly successful and in adoration of his accomplishments. However, I’m sure that Koons was aware of the possible negative connotations that could be placed upon such a work as well. In short, Koons ended up making a somewhat controversial sculpture of a popular celebrity whether he intended to do so or not.

This work reminds me mostly of Andy Warhol’s extensive and elaborate work that he did on Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol was somewhat obsessed with these two celebrities and gave many interesting titles to the names of his many paintings of them. Other similarities between these two artists work is the fact that Warhol made paintings after the sudden suicide of Marilyn Monroe and at a time when Elizabeth Taylor was reported to be very ill. So, like Koons, Warhol invoked a bit of controversy and questionable reasons as to why he chose those specific times to do works on certain celebrities. I think that since Jackson, Monroe, and Taylor happened to be hot-button issues within the news and media is the reason that Warhol and Koons did these works so that they could portray a sense of involvement in the world and to re-affirm that they knew what was going on in the world along with giving people something to think and talk about. These stunts could have also made both Warhol and Koons more popular because their names may have been associated with the mass-media.

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/finch/michael-jackson6-29-09.asp

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=azbdRdMTbEN8

“Art to me is a humanitarian act, and I believe that there is a responsibility that art should somehow be able to affect mankind, to make the world a better place.” -Jeff Koons

Three Balls 50/50 Tank Equilibrium

The Three balls 50/50 equilibrium tank contains three professional sized basketballs that float in a half filled fish tank. Each ball is a different type of ball and/or brand of ball. The tank is a large enough size so that the balls can float side by side horizontally and still not have to touch each other or any parts of the tank. Each of the balls were hollowed out except for a small amount of sodium chloride reagent that kept the balls afloat for approximately six months. The glass tanks are sitting on top of a black steel stand which seems to help put the work at about eye level.

In this work it appears as if Koons is advertising both the sport of basketball and the brands of the balls themselves. However, “For Koons, the tanks were an ultimate state of being (tate.org).” The underlying theme seems to be a bit darker with a message of the use of art in parallel to the use of basketball. “Over a period of six months the balls gradually sink to the bottom of the tank and have to be reset. Because of this, they may be seen as representing transience, human frailty and vulnerability to change in fortune (tate.org).” In these works (koons made multiple works with one, two, and three balls) Koons shows concern and makes underlying psychological and philosophical statements with optimism toward the underdog.

This work reminds me of Andy Warhol’s use of Campbell’s tomato soup cans and his Brillo boxes because it uses common everyday things but could also be portrayed as a type of advertisement as well. The three balls work is also similar to the Kilkenny work of Richard Long who brings outside material into his gallery. This is similar because the outside materials that Long brings into his gallery is out of place just as Konns’ basketballs are out of place within a fish tank. These things bring up a question of spatial relationships and what is to really be considered as art.

http://www.db-artmag.de/2005/6/e/1/366.php

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=21383&tabview=text&texttype=10

Hanging Heart

The hanging heart, like many of koons’ art is made from stainless steel and is gigantic in size. “Hanging heart weighs over 3,500 pounds, is almost nine feet tall and took over 6,000 man hours to produce (artknowledgenews.com).” This work is very unique, surreal, and attractive in the way that it is done that it could be nearly impossible to comprehend its magnitude. This work was made five different times and in different colors each time. The works took ten years to complete and each one had about ten layers of paint that covered the surface. One can only marvel at how precise and perfect each piece must have been made that, in turn, contributed to the overall finesse of the final product. Alex Rotter, senior Vice President and senior Specialist of Contemporary Art noted that hanging heart is both “powerful and romantic” and that it was “highly desirable and the perfect match for this icon-driven market (artknowledgenews.com).” Hanging heart also seems to float in the air because it hangs above the floor.

In this work of art I believe that Koons is responding to a sense of celebration and attaching this work to viewers’ emotional side. Hanging heart was also done as a moving away from minimalism and conceptualism to a more neo/post-pop. When asked about this work, koons states: “I wanted to make a work that would show my son when he was older and could understand that I loved him and was thinking about him (jca-online.com).” Another reason for this work from koons was to create a sense of comfort and a feeling of participation with the art.

This type of art by Koons reminds me of Claes Oldenberg’s works of floor cake, soft light switch, etc. in that hanging heart was a huge work of art and contained a common everyday object. However, I am also reminded of Andy Warhol’s use of commonplace objects as well. Another parallel that could be drawn in the sense of size and splendor would be the works of Christo and Jean Claude who covered mass amounts of land with tarps and other materials to make large shapes and new forms of the environment around them.

http://www.jca-online.com/koons.html

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Jeff_Koons_Hanging_Heart.html