Hans Ulrich Obrist & Jeff Koons: The Conversation Series: Vol. 22 (Conversation (Verlag Der Buchhandlung))
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Individual Artists
Hans Ulrich Obrist & Jeff Koons: The Conversation Series: Vol. 22 (Conversation (Verlag Der Buchhandlung)) Details
Reflecting on 20 years of making art, Jeff Koons talks to Hans Ulrich Obrist about his vocation and its frequently controversial highlights. Koons makes acknowledgement here of determinative influences such as Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol, and elucidates his sense of the legacy of Pop art and his own transformations of that legacy. Koons emerges from this volume as a charmingly open and very focused artist, with strong views on the purposes of art today, and advice for practitioners: “See everything as an opportunity. Stay focused, then amazing things can happen.” Koons' goals are also inspiringly utopian and appropriate to all forms of art: “The journey of art begins with self-acceptance,” he declares at one point, espousing his ideal of art as a tool for happiness. “Objective art is about Love.”
Reviews
Part of a fascinating series of books of interviews by Hans Ulrich Obrist, where this is number 22 and its subject is the artist Jeff Koons. An artist i never think about. In fact in a darker mood I can actually hate his work. But about six months ago I saw a documentary of him working in his studio with his assistants and it was fascinating. And he himself came off extremely charming and smart.This book continues the charming aspect of this artist's personality but i still have difficulty with his work for some reason. Maybe because it's too obvious to me, or I just don't like the way he plays with kitsch subject matter. But I truly believe he is beyond the kitsch level, but also it is interesting that one of his favorite artists or one that is important to him is Dali, which makes perfect sense, looking at Koon's work. They both love the surface, and both have a mythology of sorts that they deal with. Obrist and his partner-in-crime the architect Rem Koolhaas asks the right questions, as well as being very straight forward as well.Jeff Koons is a man of taste, and he's super aware of all the aesthetic aspects of art, and I think he's more into art than say art economics. So if one likes his work, I can totally understand that.
