Spotlight - Jeff Koons
Monkey (Blue)
by Jeff Koons, 1999
Click the play icon to listen to this part of the tour or read the accompanying text below.
Business tycoon turned contemporary artist Jeff Koons takes the method of appropriation, common to the Pop Art genre, to the next level. His predecessor, Andy Warhol, elevated the common under-the-sink Brillo box to the status of fine art in 1964. His accurate replication of the commercial packaging may have been a creative decision inspired by Dadaist Marcel Duchamp who polished the common urinal and placed it on a plinth, signifying value and material prestige, in 1920. For Jeff Koons, he chose the common clown balloon shaped in the form of a dog and replicated into precious material and scale and value; several maquettes (or smaller versions) can be found in the hotel’s art collection. Artworks like these may conjure happy childhood memories or at least a sense of playfulness. To similar effect, Koon’s “Monkey (Blue)” functions the same, echoing shapes that we may feel familiar with or remind us of other animated characters from our childhood. And, it adds to the peaceful atmosphere of the lobby.
Where it is
