Jeff Koons

03Jun08

I recently was invited along to the MCA opening celebration for the Jeff Koons exhibit in Chicago by some friends who were members of the museum.

It was the usual crowd of wealthier white women in daring dresses, gaggles of slightly pudgy gay men who believed themselves to be art critics, smaller couplings of gay men who actually knew what they were talking about (of course, dressed in black with eccentric eye-wear ), hetero males with female counterparts who were the subject of their desperation and then of course those of us who just like to admire how pretty things look.

The piece to the right [courtesy of Jeff Koons] was one of my favorities.

What a pretty metal bunny.

Some of the pieces were amazing. Some were boring in their approach with their lack of originality in tackling an issue visited time and time again by artists of every generation. Then again, I felt that about a lot of the pieces there. Specifically, the items from Made in Heaven and the items from Banality.

The examination of taboo in our culture through simple shock tactics combined with the glorification of such acts through gazillion dollar lighting budgets is not really new now is it? I believe the pieces in the Made in Heaven series were effective in their purpose to illuminate the need to examine why something so natural is so foreign to us; however, the methodology is almost too obvious.

The Banality series questioned the validity of art objects in general. Many of his pieces are meant to illicit a primary emotional response without creating a cycle of irony – or so I’ve been told. Everyday objects as art for their icon status in our lives is not exactly a new idea either.

I much prefer to focus on the ideas that I like to ponder when I’m supposed to be working. I really liked the pieces splicing images of mass consumer culture to religion. Not new, but they were done in a fun way without being overly pretentious – minus the price tag issue. They were easy to understand and everybody could relate to them. I liked the ideas of celebrity as gods of our times. Or maybe it was just the big over sized head of Bob Hope that I liked.

Regardless of the half drunken amateaur critics that my friends were subjected to, I had a fun time being artsy fartsy again.

I may even spend money on a book this year about it.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• on Jeff Koons
• No Title
• Praise dog

Filed under: art, chicago, too much thinking   |  1 Comment
Tags: art, drunken ramblings, Jeff Koons, MCA