Jeff Koons: A Retrospective

Edited by Scott Rothkopf.  Texts by Antonio Damasio, Jeffrey Deitch, Isabelle Graw, Achim Hochdörfer, Michelle Kuo, Rachel Kushner, Pamela M. Lee, Alexander Nagel, and James Surowiecki

Examining the breadth and depth of thirty-five years of work by Jeff Koons (b. 1955), one of the most influential and controversial artists of the 20th century, this highly anticipated volume features all of his most famous pieces. In an engaging overview essay, Scott Rothkopf carefully examines the evolution of Koons’s work and his development over the past thirty-five years, offering a fresh scholarly perspective on the artist’s multi-faceted career. In addition, short essays by a wide range of interdisciplinary contributors—from academics to novelists—probe provocative topics such as celebrity and media, markets and money, and technology and fabrication. Also included are preparatory sketches and plans for sculptures and paintings as well as installation photographs that shed light on Koons’s artistic process and trace the development of his work throughout his landmark career.

Koons has risen to international fame making art that reimagines and recontextualizes images and objects from popular culture such as vacuum cleaners, basketballs, and balloon animals. Created with painstaking attention to detail by a team of fabricators, these objects raise questions about taste and popular culture, and position Koons as one of the most lauded and criticized artists working today.

$65.00

Publisher: Whitney Museum of American Art

Artists: Jeff Koons

Contributors: Antonio Damasio, Jeffrey Deitch, Isabelle Graw, Achim Hochdörfer, Michelle Kuo, Rachel Kushner, Pamela M. Lee, Alexander Nagel, Scott Rothkopf, James Surowiecki.

Publication Date: 2014

Binding: Hardcover

Dimensions: 10 1/4 x 12 1/2 in (26 x 31.8 cm)

Pages: 288

Reproductions: 306 color, 36 b&w

ISBN: 9780300195873

Retail: $65 US & Canada | £45 | €58

Status: Available

Jeff Koons

One of the most prominent artists working today, Jeff Koons is well known for his bold paintings and sculptures. Typically working in series, his art holds up a mirror to contemporary consumer culture, using the photorealistic, commercial aesthetic familiar from an earlier generation of Pop artists to generate his own unique and universally recognizable style. His subjects range from toys to inflatables to household items to luxury goods and sexualized imagery. His references to popular media are evidenced not merely in his choice of subject matter but also in his visual techniques: his sculptures often involve smooth, glistening surfaces while his paintings employ bright and saturated colors.

All Jeff Koons books

Scott Rothkopf

Scott Rothkopf is the Nancy and Steve Crown Family Curator and Associate Director of Programs at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.