A Retrospective: 150 Pieces Jeff Koons
/The Whitney Museum of American Art displays over three decades of art from the controversial, yet groundbreaking artist.
What does one do with 150 objects from contemporary artist Jeff Koons? Create an exhibit in the Whitney’s Marcel Breuer building, of course. The New York City museum is the temporary home to Koons’ most iconic work from series such as Banality and Grazing Ball and will remain open until October 2014. This is the Whitney’s grand finale exhibit before moving in Spring 2015 to their new building in the Meatpacking District.
The exhibit is regarded as the “most comprehensive retrospective ever” from a living artist and the largest ever showed by the Whitney. The retrospective is not only in chronological order but includes newly debuted work, such as “Play-Doh”—a sculpture Koons took over 20 years to complete. It also includes comprehensive sketches and plans for Koons’ sculptures and paintings, which allows the public insight into his artistic process.
The artist is revered for his experimental career. Koon creates in the gray space between “advanced art and mass culture,” blurring the lines between the ordinarily mundane and high quality pieces. He juxtaposes common, readymade materials with their purpose and regularly draws on pop culture obsessions to fuel his creativity. Koons’ art has also taken over Rockefeller Center with his “Split-Rocker” sculpture. It is a 37-foot half pony, half dinosaur head built with over 50,000 plants.
