DRB3: Maximalism, Kitsch and Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons Work

1) https://www.vulture.com/2014/06/jeff-koons-creator-and-destroyer-of-worlds.html
2) https://arthur.io/art/jeff-koons/lobster
3) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeff-Koons
4) https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/jeff-koons-unveils-his-iffy-bouquet-of-tulips-for-paris
Jeff Koons is an American painter, illustrator and sculptor who derives inspiration for his work through children’s toys, cartoon characters, porcelain figures, and party decorations. He uses bright and somewhat tacky and garish colours for a lot of his work as well as sculpting very easily accessible, everyday items on a gigantic scale with seemingly not a lot of meaning and thought behind. Because of this his art looks cheap due to their basic shapes and plastic looking materials that he uses, but despite this are very expensive to make which goes against the public’s perception on what art should be. He also plays on the notions of a heavy object with a light appearance. Through this though he establishes a conversation on how we view material objects that we own and the concept of consumerism of goods as a whole. Koon’s style is made up of many different features, including kitsch, pop art and ready-mades with his biggest sources of inspiration being Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol.

Jeff Koons characteristically worked in series and a lot of his pieces here were a part of that. His big collection of inflatable pool toys and balloon animals were highly popular and commercially successful – fetching some of the highest prices at auction out of all his work. Some critics consider this artwork of bad taste and too commercial whereas as Koons sculpts them as important iconography that’s designed to bring back simpler times of childhood and celebrate it. He covers these stainless-steel sculptures in bright blue, magenta, orange, red and yellow coating and says he is not afraid of how this might make his artwork look more simplistic. His artwork is also inspired a lot by the idea of reflection and how fascinated he is by how it can reflect off surfaces.

Another one of his most infamous works are the bouquet of tulips that served as a memorial for Paris in wake of the series terrorist attacks which featured a Statue-of-Liberty esque hand holding a bouquet of Koon’s signature balloon tulips. However, despite his intentions of the artwork as a gift to Paris the members of the French cultural establishment called it a “cynical” act of “product placement” due to the cost of which it took to be built, the location and how appropriate its overly shiny aesthetic was. Part of the French public also believed he had done the gesture as a means of personal gain rather than being a true gift which adds to the discussion of whether his art is truly meaningful or nothing more than a some brightly coloured sculptures.

My Own Re-designs

I personally am not a great fan of his work/style due to its simplicity, so I found great difficulty in trying to create my own designs in his style. I also found it hard to derive a lot of meaning from his art as his sculptures look quite plain and uncomplicated at first glance, making it harder to design something original. I found that although he took a lot of inspiration from the Kitsch art era, his work didn’t seem conventionally “kitsch” with the garish/cheesy style that’s still appreciated in an ironic way. Koon’s work seemed almost “too” simple to be considered kitsch.

In my re-designs I tried to understand his appeal of inflatable pool floats where I designed it with a turtle hanging instead of a lobster and I can somewhat see how he may have done in it in an almost anti-art, ironic way to poke fun at modern art and its main point of it just to be simple and humorous. I also tried to create a digital drawing based on his series of balloon sculptures where I used simple bright colours for different sized balloons. I also tried to replicate his sense of depth and reflection here by adding shadows and highlights to make it look more thee dimensional.

Kitsch

Poster by Natalia Powlak in kitsch style
My own design using my own photo to recreate a poster based on the Kitsch style
Kitsch design is often defined as an art style that’s seen in poor taste or quality as due it’s very garish appearance that are overly sentimental. Despite this the Kitsch art movement is still appreciated by some people in an ironic or knowing way or because people find it funny. Kitsch can also be related to the concept of camp with its over-the-top and humorous nature.

I tried to replicate this specific concept in my redesign here where I designed a very shallow, gaudy poster and incorporated elements of pop art and bold/flashy typography.

References

1) Jeff Koons (1994) Play-Doh [Sculpture] New York. Available Online: https://www.vulture.com/2014/06/jeff-koons-creator-and-destroyer-of-worlds.html [Accessed 08/05/23]
2) Jeff Koons (2003) Lobster [Sculpture] New York. Available Online: https://arthur.io/art/jeff-koons/lobster [Accessed 08/05/23]
3) Jeff Koons (1992) Puppy [Topiary Sculpture] Pennsylvania. Available Online: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeff-Koons [Accessed 08/05/23]
4) Jeff Koons (2016) Bouquet of Tulips [Sculpture] Paris. Available Online: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/jeff-koons-unveils-his-iffy-bouquet-of-tulips-for-paris [Accessed 08/05/23]
5) Natalia Pawlak (2019) Shine [Poster] N/A. Available Online: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/natalia-pawlak-graphic-design-191119 [Accessed 08/05/23]